Backstage Marauders
by Jill Rocca
Summary: AU-MWPP. Remus/Sirius. As junior year begins, Sirius Black is extremely confused by his growing attraction to school loner, Remus Lupin. And why the hell does he keep kissing Remus? And why does Remus just take it? His friends are there to help him out.
1. Those Little Misunderstandings

**Backstage Murderers**

**Author: Jill Rocca**

**Disc: I own no characters other than the few OC characters mentioned here and there, but the major ones I have manipulated belong to JK Rowling.**

**Fandom: Harry Potter, MWPP era, but taking place in 2006 and in America. _Very_ AU.**

**Pairings:** **Mostly Remus/Sirius, then some James/Lily and in case you're wondering, Peter is just going to be a minor side character (as minor as it gets) because he is so unbearable and I hate writing for him. Sure he'll have a descriptive paragraph and a slight role in this, but other than that he will be mysteriously missing from this fanfiction.**

**A/N: Ahhhhhh, new fic! Hope you all enjoy. Yes, I KNOW there's a ton of HP-high school fics out there, but I really have NOT read any of them to the knowledge that my memory serves, so I don't think I'm likely stealing anything. Though I will be mad if someone steals MY stuff, but I'm sure no one will. Thanks for reading!**

_People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges._

—Joseph F. Newton Men

**Chapter 1: Those Little Misunderstandings**

Closing his eyes and feeling the rugged roundness of the ball, Remus bent his legs and threw the basketball, only opening his eyes when he heard the swish of the net. He moved to go get the ball as soon as it hit the hard, waxed floor of the basketball court inside the school gym. The space was completely empty except for him and his stuff if one counted inanimate objects as an audience. He liked it this way, especially when the cheerleaders weren't practicing. He liked to come to the court as often as he could when it was undisturbed by youths coming to watch the pretty cheerleaders practicing.

This basketball court served as his only solitary confinement he could come to and be himself in all of his school. Hogton & Wartston High School was not a place where Remus Lupin generally fit in. It was a school ruled mostly by wealth and perception for when power could be obtained. People would be nice to you one day and then disturbingly capricious the next. Remus liked to be nice to everyone, but he didn't necessarily let anyone take advantage of him either.

Remus loved basketball, and he was very good at it too, he had always started for the high school team, even becoming a member of varsity in his sophomore year. It was strange to the other members of the team that such a good player was so meek and quiet and preferred to be by himself than at large house parties, but Remus was just being himself. He didn't really like being out at night so late anyway, but the more popular sort of people thought he was a complete idiot for not conforming to do what they did, so Remus didn't really have any friends, well, except for one.

Lily Evans, a cheerleader, was sort of his friend and sort of not. She would never sit with him at lunch, even if Remus didn't spend his time in the library, but she would call him or IM him if she just wanted to talk. In Remus's opinion, Lily was the smartest, most observant cheerleader to things that didn't consist of fashion magazines in the whole school. She was very pretty with long red locks and brilliant green eyes, but he wasn't attracted to her the way most football players drooled after her. He just liked her personality; they shared similar tastes in bands and nonconformity, but Lily did like to cheer, so she stuck with her cheering mates as much as she could bear.

She had remarked to him once before that, "They're not so bad once you get to know them and they actually like you back, but I don't know Remus," when he had asked her why, if she thought most of them were such bimbos and sluts, did she hang around with them? "I mean, I don't whore around like they do, or drink, or party till dawn, no, I take myself home around eleven." As if that were any better.

Now that Lily was cheerleading captain, she called all the shots. At the start of the year, just a week or two ago, Lily had promised Remus that the other jocks would be and must be nicer towards Remus on her command, but Remus wasn't expecting much, though he appreciated her friendship and loyalty.

Remus kept practicing his shots even though the basketball season didn't start until late November, but he had nothing else to do. What were they doing in school? Sure, he had some Pre-Calc/Trig homework, then he had to read a passage for AP History, then do some easy German work, and then solve some short Chem equations. That would take him maybe two hours or less, depending on his level of interest.

Remus just kept shooting. He loved the feel of the ball beneath his fingers, but he also loved letting it go, even when the ball didn't make it in the hoop, the gentle caress it gave his fingertips as it left his hands … he understood the ball, and the ball most times understood they way he was pushing it to make it in the hoop. His coach said that Remus should definitely be looking at a basketball scholarship within the next year. After a few more minutes of happy solitude, Remus began to get the strange feeling that he was being watched. He stopped shooting for a while and looked around the darkened basketball court, saw no one, shrugged, and went back to shooting for a few more minutes, putting the basketball back in the gym locker area, grabbing his stuff and car keys as he went and left the school for home.

If only Remus realized that someone _had _been watching him. Sirius Black stood a ways away from Remus behind a bleacher, clutching his duffle bag, just watching the way the other boy moved. Sure, Sirius knew the guy, Remus Lupin, resident shy guy/quiet kid of HWHS. The two boys didn't hang out at all. Sirius had had an encounter with Remus twice before though, once in elementary school and then in middle school. They had never hung out before high school though as friends. Sirius wasn't sure why he never thought of becoming friends with Remus. Not that someone as nice as Remus would probably want to hang out with Sirius anyway.

Sirius was known around the school as the school bad ass, someone you want on your side, but never someone you want to cross. Sirius might be like that on some accounts given his temper, but not really. He felt pretty damn misunderstood, by everyone, even his teammates on the soccer team, except for his best friend James Potter. His bad ass exterior was popular with all the girls in the school, especially the ones in his grade. They were always falling all over him, much to his dislike, and some of the more forward ones would call out to him in the hallways or insist they walk him to their classes or try to force their friendship upon them, but Sirius didn't want it at all. He knew he was quite good-looking, but he didn't like to flaunt it around. In their earlier years, he and James got into several fights—which they won—which labeled them the school bullies pretty much, but at the moment in their junior year, was it so wrong to tell off the cocky little freshmen? Besides, it was sort of fun as long as no one killed themselves.

The story of how Sirius came to watch Remus was a short one. Sirius's soccer practice had stopped early and he hated when that happened because he looked for every possible way to _not_ be at home with his family. Damn sadists. His mother was all in a fit because they were throwing a dinner party on Saturday that Sirius _had_ to be home for. Great. Not. Since his family was the wealthiest in the whole county, maybe even the whole damn state, they had a very large house with a range of servants and ornaments and the most expensive furniture all imported from this place or that and Sirius hated it all, but less than he hated his family. His family thrived on making people feel low and insignificant in their high wealth and Sirius didn't feel like that at all, which led to numerous, pointless arguments shared between him and his mother. His father did nothing to defend him; he just sat there and let his mother run the show. He couldn't even count on his own little brother, Regulus, but who could count on a sad tart like him? No, the only person Sirius really counted on was his cousin, Andromeda, and she would be there Saturday at the dinner party, which was important as his mother had to discuss something with the entire family. At least with Andromeda they could sneak out, grab James, and go see a movie and have a really fun dinner elsewhere and keep their sanity.

So as Sirius was finished changing and turning down James's offer to give him a ride home with some of his own mates in one of their cars, Sirius wandered around the school. The library had closed early, not that he ever used it, and the after school clubs he just didn't go for, so no go. He found his way back into the locker room, which was still open since football was practicing, and he flopped down on a bench and took out some homework to do. After maybe an hour or so of boredom, he finished what he needed to do and supposed he should start the long trek home (walking was his preferred method of travel, as it took the longest possible amount of time away from spending time in the same house with his family), but as he was gathering his things, he heard a loud thumping coming from the basketball court.

He opened the door a fraction and slipped inside to see the school shy boy practicing his shots. Sirius hid behind the bleachers so as not to disturb the other boy, who looked so amazing while he practiced; he was truly a genius of the sport. Sirius watched for about another hour before the other boy turned in. He watched as Remus arched his back and could see all the details of his calm face as he closed his eyes, blind to the world, as if he were concentrating hard on using his other senses, and flung his arms up, almost like a dancer, flicking the ball towards the net with such ease, and Sirius watched as the ball flew into the net with grace. Sirius was in awe. He didn't know someone could play a single sport with such elegance and grace, nor move so easily.

Sirius liked Remus. He liked him a lot, but not in the romantic sort of way, Sirius liked his personality from what he had seen of it. He was really good at a popular sport that came with the whole cheerleader and letter jackets package, but Remus wasn't like all the other jocks and didn't make any moves to be like them at all. He was very good at basketball and didn't flaunt it around. He was a starter player and didn't boast about it to get the girls. No, Remus seemed to be perfectly happy being polite, modest, and just being himself, but not in an obnoxious way. He seemed really likeable, and Sirius really wondered why he and James didn't ever talk to him, but maybe it was just because he was so shy and came off as a little uninviting, so Sirius supposed his subconscious was keeping him away from making a new friend, and boy did the kid need friends, he didn't really have _any_ from what Sirius could tell. The boy was in his junior year and he didn't have a single friend? Odd, maybe he didn't want any, but Sirius couldn't tell.

Sirius was just watching Remus leave the gym and he figured he ought to as well, not that his own mother cared. Sirius could be out for days and not even noticed, but he needed a shower. So, Sirius trekked out of the gym and walked on home.

It was a warm September evening as James stood in the parking lot waiting for his friend Sirius to finish whatever business he had wandering the school like a lost puppy trying to avoid going home, and James made it his business to give the other boy a reason to not feel lonely as he walked home. So James waited, he had already done his homework and was just working on a little puzzle in his lap when Sirius came out. James looked up and Sirius looked down at him.

James smiled and said, "Ready to go home now?"

"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked bewildered.

"Idiot, don't act like I don't know you. You do this every time we have an early practice. I didn't ride with the other guys, I parked in the very back of the parking lot because I wanted to wait for you," James said.

Sirius was amazed that his friend would do that for him and highly thankful that he had found such a good friend amidst the crap-runners (DEF: those crappy people that run the school) in the school. He crouched down and said, "You didn't have to do that you know,"

James just said, "I know, but I wanted to. I can't have you wandering the streets like a lost puppy dog, all smelly and lonely."

The two boys laughed and talked all the way back to James's car, which was situated at the back of the student parking lot, presumably so Sirius wouldn't see it, and since the parking lot was full during the day, he probably wouldn't have seen it, but now that the parking lot was empty and desolate, he could see it quite clearly.

James liked waiting for his friend after practice, and sure Sirius liked taking as long a time to get home as possible, he still let James take him home. James secretly knew that Sirius was saving up all his allowances from his Uncle to move out of his parent's house soon as he was able to make it on his own, which James didn't expect to happen until Sirius was in college, which might be tough, but Sirius never wanted his parents to pay for his college education, as they would probably send him to a school of their choosing instead of letting Sirius choose whichever path he wanted and James knew Sirius hated following other people's paths.

James Potter was an only child and had about as many relatives as Sirius, but the connection was much less hostile. James liked his parents a lot; they were always there for him. He'd hate it if anything ever happened to them, opposite Sirius who wished bad things would happen to his family for all the crap they put him through, and James knew it was truly a lot of stupid shit Sirius had to put up with, his parents really sucked, and this was why James's parents, who also didn't like Mr. And Mrs. Black, invited Sirius over for dinner and to spend the night frequently, though they would never say anything in front of Sirius about what bad parents Mr. and Mrs. Black were towards their son, but should _they_ judge? But hey, facts were facts.

James turned into his family's three-car driveway and parked about ten minutes after he dropped Sirius off at his house. He was greeted by his mother's cooking as soon as he stepped in, so throwing down his bag in their foyer, he went to join his parents for dinner.

James was a good kid … at home. He was definitely not his principal's favorite well-mannered student at school though. He and Sirius often took their stresses against the conformists out on the conformists themselves, but as the principal knew they performed all the pranks, he really had no proof that they had actually committed them.

For instance, today, James and Sirius had borrowed the office's locker combination record from the secretary's desk, photocopied it, and put it back. Then they had looked up Sir Lucius Malfoy's locker combination. As the resident King of the school and superstar football and lacrosse starter at HWHS, he made it his duty to stomp on and trounce everyone and everything he didn't like, and unfortunately Sirius's triplet cousin, Narcissa Black, was his resident girlfriend. So anyway, they found out his locker combination and took it, searched through the locker, and taped up male porn all over his locker and his binders. They took out his English binder and slipped in one last picture he wasn't likely to notice for a few days of class work and taped it in there, then wrote, "Enjoy!" on the paper they stuck it on and dated it. It was great because they wrote "Enjoy" taking turns writing each letter a different way so he wouldn't be able to tell.

A somewhat small prank to what they usually did, IE, flooding the football locker room toilets (hey, there _were _at least two drains in there, so what they got stopped up?) but who would find out? No one was in the hallway at all, as it was during lunch, and they did it before the Hallway Nazis got to do their rounds after they ate. During the bells in between the end of lunch and fifth period, when Lucius came up to his locker with Narcissa slung under his arm like a football and his little letter jacket followers-gang, he swung Narcissa around to kiss her hard on the cheek, her short skirt flying up and down much to the other boys' enjoyment, and then opened his locker. It took a while for the impact of what was in his locker to fully hit him. He stared at all the gay porn looking horrified and several more students came over to survey the damage and the Hall Nazis came over to see what this was about and immediately ran to the principal's office, who came out immediately.

The funny thing was that Lucius was the one who got in trouble, no questions asked, a whole week of detentions for his wonderful locker display. The principal had asked him with a smirk, "Have you been redecorating Mr. Malfoy?"

James and Sirius came by the locker along with some other students, their own little band of odd followers that genuinely sought their protection from the letter jacket-clad monsters. Over the years of their high school experience, they had actually gained a bit of popularity surprisingly, even some of the weirdest jocks would sometimes talk to them. It was quite odd. But anyway, they all looked at it, pointed and laughed like all the others, including Remus Lupin, who was also there standing next to Sirius laughing at the amazing display of pornography.

Also, Lily Evans had been there laughing at what had happened. Narcissa got angry at her saying it was Lily's duty as cheer captain to not laugh at the star players whom she was cheering for at football games.

Lily, like a real trooper, only said, "Yeah, but it's so funny! Lighten up Cissy! I know you're boyfriend is gay, but really, this is hilarious!" This only made James love the girl even more.

Several people noticing the bit of offensive slang Lily had unintentionally used began chanting, "Queer and Cis-sy! Awe-some cou-ple!" Over and over again, like little animals. James was about to join in too, it was like the other teens were praising Lily on her comeback, but James also didn't want to look like a kindergartener.

See, James had had a crush on Lily Evans for a little while now, and anything that made her more cute and likeable raised his level in love for and adoration of her. He lay on his bed messing up his hair, a bit of a habit of his, thinking of ways he could win over Lily Evans, but it was hard when she thought he was a damn conceited ass hole, who went around teasing people, and yes, James liked teasing little freshmen, but honestly, they were freshmen! What else was he supposed to do, show them around and make them feel welcome? No, his way of making them feel welcome was showing them who to not mess with, that were all; it was just a difference in opinion.

Oh well, he'd find another way to woo her in the morning, not that he hadn't tried countless times before to ask her out. She could at least respect his daring.

Lily Evans however did not think she could respect an obnoxious pig's daring. James Potter, in her opinion, flounced about himself boasting about his good grades and mocking the freshmen who were mostly considerably smaller than even he himself was; he only reached about two or three inches taller than Lily. No, Lily did not like James and would rather be shot dead by the other cheerleaders, who wanted her so, than go out with James Potter. He just pissed her off so much!

Though, he didn't piss her off as much as the other cheerleaders, especially Sirius Black's, (who was also not on Lily's good list either, as he _helped_ James haze the freshmen), cousins, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, who seemed to be completely against her becoming cheer captain and looked for numerous ways to unseat her from her position.

It was hard to be a good leader and not result to violence when it came to managing her cheer squad. All except for Bellatrix and Narcissa's triplet sister, Andromeda. She was just as good-looking as they were (as they were all fraternal, and boy, were they all different) and just as rich, as they were sisters, but even though they were all related, Andy wasn't a bitch. She was completely humble and willing to listen to Lily's new cheer instructions whereas the others made it their business to not, unless people came to watch, then Lily actually got things done, unless they were learning their routines for cheer competitions in which their main instructor came in.

Lily was on the brink of asking their cheer instructor if she would sit with them full time during practices since she couldn't manage the girls, and in fact, Lily had had one of the members of the Audio Visual team secretly tape their rehearsal and he had given her the tape. Lily sat up watching it in her room smiling at all the wrong things she could show her instructor and show how she desperately tried to get the girls to rally with her, but only so few of them did. Hopefully it wouldn't all blow up in her face to which the cheer instructor would say something along the lines of, "You are just a bad leader, let the Black triplets take charge," or something shit-ridden like that.

Lily figured she should call Remus and tell him the news of the atrocity of what she had to go through, but before she did that, her parents always made her finish her homework before IM-ing and phone calls. So she got to it.

"Reeeeeemus!" Lily called into the phone once she had finished all her homework.

"Hey," Remus said cheerfully.

"Tough way to come out the closet isn't it for poor, poor old Lucius?" She asked giggling.

"You mean, 'rich, rich young Lucius', right? He's everything but poor and old," Remus joked.

"Yeah, really! I mean, we all know he didn't do it, but Narcissa's furious, she claims to have broken up with him and didn't even want to practice cheering today, can you believe it?"

Remus snickered into the phone, "Actually I can, but they'll only be broken up for about a day, you know _that_. In fact, I do not doubt that as we sit here in our rooms, they are making up and out at this very moment."

"Heh, yeah!" And this was how their conversations on the phone usually went; Lily really enjoyed talking to Remus. He was the only one who seemed to understand her, and the other way around. Remus might come off as extremely shy in person, but actually, he was very talkative and funny once you got him going. Remus was also a very good friend, Lily wouldn't have him any other way, plus she sort of assumed that Remus was gay, but she wasn't about to pry into his most personal life.

"Can you believe that complete ass James Potter asked me out after math today?" Lily asked indignant, she needed advice on how to throw this ass hole in the trash for good.

"Yes I can, as he's done it several times before," There went Remus again, the ever-present voice of reason.

"Well, he keeps sounding so confident each time as if I really will say yes, but I keep turning him down, just to show him not everyone loves him."

"Oh Lily, I think you do really like him, you're just determined to deny it." Remus said simply.

"No way!" Lily began to protest, but Remus made her stop.

He said, "All right, say what you will, but you know, he was the one who put all that gay porn in Lucius's locker you know, I saw him and Sirius Black doing it at lunch today."

"And it's just like him to do stupid immature things like that!"

"And there you go again …" Remus began to chuckle and Lily saw no point in continuing trying to convince him that she absolutely _did not_ like pompous ass holes like James Potter.

The two friends joked for a little while longer until it was about ten o'clock, and Lily's mother had come up to tell her she had to stop tying up the phone lines, so Lily said see you tomorrow to Remus and hung up. She did always enjoy her conversations with Remus, he was a very good listener and advice-giver and the school newspaper was looking for a new advice column writer this year, and if he wasn't careful, she would just slip his name into the suggestions box …

Well, she was tired and needed to not think so hard on so many things at the moment. Usually around ten o'clock she got online to talk to her "stupid friends" as she liked to call them. She had no idea why she defended them all the time around Remus and it was unfair to even them that she bashed them behind their backs. She really needed to make new friends that actually liked her personality, like Remus did, but she guessed she wouldn't have that kind of freedom until college. So instead of hoping online tonight, she rested, tomorrow, she felt, would be a long day.

**TBC …**

**Next installment coming next week! I hope you all enjoyed it, it took forever to write, but as you see, it's a lot. Please review and tell me what you think. This was the intro chapter, and I hope I didn't make it too much like an intro, as they are usually boring and annoying to get through. I really worked on this one for you guys! I tried to keep it o some topic that I really knew, like what's it's like to be a misunderstood teenager, and I really wanted to work with this fanfic seriously, so I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading!**

**Oh, and as per my Peter-description at the top, yeah, he might get a paragraph or two and a sentence or two of dialogue, but I have decided not to work with him at all, unless, he really does become James, Sirius, and Remus's friend, but then he'd do something bad that they'd kick him out, but it just seems easier on my poor nerves to leave him out of their/my lives/life, so … you know, I think that's what I'll do.**

**About my writing: Ugh, some of my transitions are bad, but trust me, I tried to make them as sensible as possible, will work harder next time, but ehh, hard to get in all the stuff I wanted for the intro.**

**Other things:**

**1) Yes, I know Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda aren't really triplets, but in this story I figured it'd be easier. Dunno if all fraternity is possible, but ah well. It is now …**

**2) I make up odd nicknames for things/classes/people throughout, so if they look stupid to you, feel free to laugh at them, I don't really care.**

**3) Not sure I'll be able to update this weekly, but at least semi-frequently. Judging by the amount of time I spent working on this first chapter … hopefully I'll meet my deadlines though.**

**4) I'll explain the James/Sirius/Remus friend circle later.**

**5) No matter what anybody says, Peter is not going to be a major part of this story. I'll add him in as a minor character or comic relief, but nothing more.**

**6) I'll think of better pranks for James and Sirius to pull off in the future.**

**7) Can anyone tell me what the Uncle Sirius mentioned in the 5th book that gave him inheritance money? Unfortunately, my copy is at my mom's house in Pennsylvania and I'm all the way out in Georgia with my Dad, so I can't look it up myself, but if someone could kindly tell me what the Uncle's name was, it would help the third chapter greatly. Thanks:)**


	2. School Supplies

**Backstage Murderers**

**Author: Jill Rocca**

**Disc: I wished I owned all, but Harry Potter would be a very different place … I also don't own The Zombies.**

**Fandom: Harry Potter, MWPP era, but in 2006-2007 America. Very AU.**

**Pairings/Characters: Remus/Sirius central with James/Lily because I love them too. I have a plan for Peter, and it'll be apart of relationship development, and he will be in I-want-to-kill-him Peter Pettigrew style, but it won't last more than 2 chapters if that.**

**A/N: I know I said I'd update this weekly, but I've really been so busy with school and general family drama that I didn't really find much time, but thankfully the testing is almost over and the real part of summer is almost here. Didn't help that I started this chapter three times and my computer broke down, but I have a new computer now, so all should be well. **

**Chapter 2: School Supplies**

"Here Sirius," Came Sirius's father's voice in dark tones as if he were prepared for the worst, and out of his son no less the only one in the house who didn't like to control people, but this morning as the family was finishing their breakfast of fluffy waffles, fruit, potatoes, oatmeal, and orange juice, Mr. Black had assumed they were switching roles even though Sirius wasn't about to stoop to his mother's manipulative level that she seemed to inflict on the entire house; she had already corrupted Dad and Regulus. Sirius's father passed two hundred dollars to his son, which Sirius didn't take easily.

He said, "What's the deal?" This was odd. Recently, Mr. Black was getting quite fond of giving things to his eldest son.

"There is no deal," Said Mr. Black in low tones placing the money next to Sirius's orange juice glass.

Sirius sat back into his chair, and rolled his eyes, he had trained himself to expect nothing less of his parents. "What do you want?" Sirius asked in a hard voice. "Look, I can't ask James to give Reg' a ride somewhere, it's against Mr. and Mrs. Potter's rules for driving."

"Sirius!" Mrs. Black shrieked sounding quite indignant. Regulus, Sirius's freshman punk of a brother, also stared at Sirius looking annoyed.

"What?" Sirius pounded his hands onto the table, "_They_ gave him a car." He hinted. Sirius had his license, but his parents didn't trust him with a car, if he had a car, he'd be out of there anyway. But what was this money for? A bribe? And for what?

"Sirius! I will not have this incompetence out of you!" His mother shrieked again.

"Too bad! This is how I came out of you! You two make me sick." This was how it always was, especially when he was a little kid, he didn't really know how to handle it when he was smaller, but he had taught himself. The most of the family was screwed, a bunch of undiagnosed narcissists, but he knew better than to lash out. He kept his voice level, but sarcastic so they knew he wasn't going to have any of their crap. Sirius started to push his chair out and get up to go upstairs and brush his teeth before James came around to pick him up and take him to school.

Sirius's father grabbed his shirt sleeve. Sirius looked down at his dad as Mr. Black said, "It's not bribery, Sirius. You've needed new soccer cleats for about a year now, and just last week, you ripped one of them, right?"

Sirius stared at his father bemused.

"You're off from practice since you won your last game right?"

"Y-Yeah … but!"

"Go buy some this weekend then, and didn't you make plans to see your friends for dinner this evening before going to the football game?"

"Y-Yeah … how did—have you been—_wait_," Sirius began, getting more and more confused all the while.

Sirius looked over at his mother who was across the table from him. She was staring at her husband at the head of the table in a look of astonishment. So she hadn't put him up to this act. _Dad? He used to be just like her … what the hell? _Sirius thought to himself.

Mr. Black released Sirius from his grip and smiled like a little boy who knows he's done a good job on something and will be rewarded for it. "Good, Sirius, you can stay out until midnight this weekend, just please remember to take your cell phone with you." He said, the corners of his eyes crinkling a little.

Sirius gave a slight frown and said, "Okay, thanks." Sirius took the money and raced into his bathroom where he brushed his teeth, then picked up his things and went out the door without a word to anyone else.

James was waiting for him outside in his car about to press his hand to the horn when he saw Sirius coming out of the door. James waved even though he noticed his friend was looking down at the ground evidently in deep thought.

As he walked down the steps to get into James's car, Sirius realized something. He propped himself with his elbow on the roof of James's car. He smiled in the window. James pressed the control to roll with window down. He leaned over the seat and said, "Are you going to get in or are you going to smile like a complete idiot all day?"

"Okay, okay, sorry." Sirius said smiling broadly still. He opened the door to the car and got in as James slid over back into his seat.

"Did something happen in there?" James asked firing up the engine.

"Yeah, my dad gave me, like, two hundred bucks to have a good time this weekend." Sirius explained throwing his bag in the back seat and making the seat lean back. He put the palms of his hands on the back of his head and stared up at the ceiling of the car thinking.

"Does he have a stash?" James asked jokingly while chuckling.

"I have no idea, but whatever, he said it's not a bribe." So weird. "He's been acting so weird lately, it's like he actually wants to get into my good graces and get to know me better. It's just such a late change in him."

"Well, he did get you that laptop and printer for your birthday," James said, "Kind of nice though, I mean, I'm happy about it because you sound happy about it, this is good."

This was true. Sirius could remember that time in August when Mr. Black had taken him and Regulus out school supply shopping. The first time he had noticed a real and drastic change in his father. He was acting more fatherly by the minute. Not saying that giving your sons very expensive tablet PC's was fatherly, but his father never got him anything besides maybe clothes, a roof, and food. He had just started trying to talk to Sirius and ask him about his day at school and what he was up to, and how were his friends. So weird.

Over the summer, James and his parents had invited Sirius to go school shopping with them to save him from the temporary insanity and narcissism that would come with shopping since Mrs. Black usually took Sirius school shopping and Sirius usually never got what he wanted and would have to shop again with his own money. On this occasion, however, Mr. Black said that he would take his sons shopping, but yes, Sirius could go clothes shopping with James and his other friends at the mall later that afternoon. So Sirius was pouting in the office supply store about having to suffer Regulus all morning, when his Dad started acting very strange. As Regulus gathered his supplies, Mr. Black turned to Sirius and said he could go get whatever he wanted. Although not what he was expecting, Sirius obeyed. Sirius was just starting to pull down some ½ inch binders when his father objected to it.

Sirius thought, _Here we go … _thinking that his father would make some ridiculous inquiry about how small binders made you look like you had a small brain and that would lead to an insult on Sirius's character which would then lead to an argument, was how it usually went with his mother, but what happened with his father was completely different. Instead of forcing him to get overlarge binders and make him look like a dumbass at school, his father actually negotiated it with him and actually listened to why Sirius insisted on saving the environment with using minimal paper and why one 2-inch binder that could fit all his subjects would kill his reputation and trees.

"Dad, it'll be a waste of money," He twisted his baseball cap around his head, "I never take really lengthy notes unless it'll help me, I really don't need all that much binder space.

"So what are you going to do if you need to put worksheets in it or tests or notes your teachers give you."

"Well, worksheets and tests are only useful for about a week, and then I let the recycling guys pick 'em up." Sirius explained simply.

"Right, but can't you just get the one-inch binders and put two subjects in them instead?" His father suggested. "To save more space I mean … and the trees of course."

Sirius thought about it for a second. He said, "Uh, yeah. Okay, that's a good idea," and he put two one-inch binders in his basket, since he only needed a binder for AP History, Chem, English, and Math. There were only six periods in the day the usual required classes were there and the others were electives. German and AP Psychology were his only electives.

Sirius was feeling content that he was getting all the school supplies he had wanted, but his father wasn't done. He asked Sirius if they could look at the computers next and Sirius consented, so they did. Sirius ended up drooling over one of the Tablet PCs—the twelve-inch one that had the swivel screen to better write on.

His father came up right behind him and asked, "Do you like this one?"

"Well, yeah, it's a tablet." Sirius said still tinkering on the computer. He could just see himself working on it in his room; it even had a wireless Internet connection. He even had the perfect place to hide it in his closet from Reg', but he had to stop fantasizing: his father would never buy it for him, just because he got to pick his own school supplies did not mean that he could already be in good position for college and he wouldn't buy it himself, because he was saving his allowances for a greater expenditure.

A salesman came around to asking the party if they needed help or not. Mr. Black asked both his sons to leave him and the salesman and look for more supplies to get. They were suspicious, but consented to it and left him to the salesman.

Sirius moved away from his brother to get pens or whatever he still needed. He sighed trying not to get his hopes up, but his father was moving suspiciously. He was probably just asking a question about his own computer or something.

As Sirius aimed for a pack of pens another hand was inching it's way to the same pack, only Sirius didn't take note of it until a little spark ignited between the two fingers causing them both to jerk their hands back and shake them trying to get rid of the stinging sensation.

"Ow!" Both of them said. It hurt to be shocked, especially when a little white spark was clearly visible between the two hands. "Sorry." They both said to the other looking up to finally note whom they were apologizing to.

"Oh, hi," Sirius said to Remus Lupin who was standing next to him and smiling.

"Hi Sirius," Remus said very friendly.

There was nothing to say after that. The pair just stood there awkwardly trying to decide what to do with themselves next. The shock of meeting someone you saw from time to time, but didn't really know was a little nerve-racking for Sirius when it came to Remus. Usually he was quite pleasant with strangers he could piece a name with the face at school, but that was usually because they were in awe of being in the presence of Sirius Black the dubbed "School Bad-ass" and they always treated him, and James, like a celebrity, especially since those two were much nicer than Lucius Malfoy and his cronies. The fans were always berating him with questions, especially the girls, although their conversation didn't flow as well as the awe-struck guys he ran into. Girls, especially the single ones, were more inclined to break the conversation off for bits at a time and Sirius could practically see the gear working in their brain as they thought, "What do I say next?"

But Remus was different from all the rest, which made Sirius feel a little awkward. This was the first time his popularity wasn't a staple for someone else to admire. Remus was just carrying on as he usually did, pleasant to all, but also seemingly very shy.

Remus grabbed a pack of pens, smiled at Sirius and said, "I'll see you at school I guess!" as he walked away to rejoin his parents with Sirius staring at his back and mumbling, "Yeah …" Weird. Sirius never mumbled. On Remus's way out of the aisle, he walked past Mr. Black and Regulus who were coming to find Sirius.

"Everything is all ready, are you done looking for school supplies?" Mr. Black asked.

Sirius nodded still feeling awkward after his encounter with Remus.

Mr. Black said, "Okay, let's go pay for everything then." And with that the three of them left together for the cash register. At the register already were two large brown boxes and a computer program and one of those Tablet PC pens all stacked up neatly with the biggest boxes on the bottom.

"Dad, what's all this?" Sirius asked.

Mr. Black turned to his oldest, smiled and said very simply, "Your birthday present."

"Dad! You can't be serious!" It wasn't Sirius who spoke first, but Regulus who made the exclamation and it came out like a whine.

"Well, your brother needs a computer for when he goes to college and since you commandeered the family one and put it in your room it's hard for him to get his own work done." Mr. Black said calmly. The salesman finished scanning the items and what this must have looked for him was embarrassing to Sirius. Not to mention Remus Lupin was in the store, what would he think of him and his family?

The Salesman put all the items onto the adjacent counter towards the exit and waited patiently for Mr. Black to pay him, which Mr. Black did obligingly to Regulus's protests.

Regulus was going, "But Dad, since when does _he _get whatever _he_ wants? _And_ he's not going to college for two years!"

"Now Regulus," Mr. Black said calmly, "Your brother does have a name, and I don't see a problem with all this. It's Sirius's birthday."

"But Dad!" Regulus whined, "That was like over a week ago!" His voice cracked which made Sirius give a chuckle, even though he was just as confused at Reg' was, but for many different reasons, though his little brother was right about one thing: since when did he get whatever he wanted just like that?

"I'm glad you even remembered." Sirius joked.

Regulus glared at his older brother and said, "I can't stand you!"

"And can't stand that you're a spoiled bastard, but you don't see me complaining like a little dumbass about you to mom and dad everyday."

"Boys! That's enough out of both of you!" Mr. Black said sharply taking his receipt and muttering an apology to the cashier. "We're leaving." He said sternly and he motioned to the boys to gather their bags and boxes, they obeyed and left the store.

They put all the things into the trunk and Mr. Black sped away from the store. As Sirius was deep in thought about what could be going through Remus Lupin's mind at the moment because of that whole show put on by his family and if Remus even saw any of it, Sirius remembered that he should probably thank his father for buying him all that expensive stuff. Sirius huffed feeling a little paranoid about why his dad bought him the stuff in the first place, but he had another feeling that he should just let the paranoia go and that there was no point in it. He didn't know why, but it was a funny feeling, like he could trust that his father wasn't going to be cruel and make him do a lot of things to compensate for the purchase, like guilt him into working at his company or something else.

"Thanks Dad," Sirius said softly, looking at the floor of the car, he slumped a little in the passenger seat.

Mr. Black put a hand on Sirius's head and said, "You're welcome." He removed his hand as they pulled into the mall's parking lot.

And that was the end of it. He had gone to the mall and told James all about it while being rejoined by their other friends.

As James and Sirius rode into school, there seemed to be a big staple of the football teams' in the parking lot. It was a morning pep rally sponsored by the students with no permission from the school. Every football player was there including most of the cheerleaders. The players didn't do this every game, because they always got into trouble for it by Vice Principal McGonagall.

She was actually tearing across the parking lot towards the "pep rally" as James and Sirius got out of James's car. McGonagall would be such a bitch for also handing out punishments to James and Sirius in the past, if she hadn't just told Lucius Malfoy, the obvious leader of this brigade, that he wouldn't play that night.

James and Sirius burst out laughing, the only ones in the crowd full of people. Malfoy turned to the pair of them and gave them a death glare. Like they cared, anything he came at them with, they would get back at him ten-fold, but they couldn't use the pictures again this time. Damn.

When they could finally get inside, they parted, each other's lockers being in the opposite direction. Sirius walked in the direction of his locker. He opened his locker, noticing out of the corner of his eye Remus Lupin was also at his locker just a few doors down and Remus couldn't get his locker open. He kept turning the dial, and re-turning the dial. He was moving the handle up and down, but the locker wouldn't budge.

Sirius stared.

What fascinated him the most was that Remus was moving his entire body aggressively with the way he was pulling at the door. The door went _rut, rut, rut_, which caused Remus to go, grunt for about two minutes before he gave up and tried to redo his combination once more. Remus was red in the face with frustration and Sirius was also red in the face, but not for the same reason.

His cheeks were burning. A rush of impure thoughts swam into Sirius's mind. He kept thinking about how he'd have Remus pressed against the lockers, _rut, rut, rutting_ up against the other boy. And then of course, they'd both be naked.

_Damn!_ Sirius thought to himself. Without even thinking about his German book, he sped down the hallway, not stopping until he reached the German classroom, where most of the class was already piled in and chatting, when Sirius came in, the chatter continued as Sirius clutched at his face to hide his embarrassment, which by contrast, was actually more embarrassing, but he slunk into the empty seat next to James, who was staring at him looking confused.

James said, "Dude what's wrong? Another fan-girl show off her rack again?"

He said nothing was wrong and that he was fine. His face had lost its vibrance, finally, but James wasn't satisfied. He stared at his best friend with a look that said, "I know something's up, and I don't know why, but you're not telling me … why?"

Sirius looked back at James trying to foster an innocent look on his face. James still wasn't fooled.

"What's wrong?" James asked slowly.

"Nothing. Ah, shit, I left my German book." Sirius said, he went to go get a spare from the shelves hoping that when he got back from this short trip, James would have stopped asking him questions. He knew James was probably staring at his back still not convinced, but he couldn't just come right out and say to James in front of the class or not, "I started having erotic fantasies about a _boy_, not just any boy, but Remus Lupin, who was rutting against his locker very aggressively, and I think I liked the thought of substituting the roles with him being said locker, and me banging up against him. Oh, and we were naked."

Good God no.

Unfortunately for Sirius, however, the shelves where the books were placed was also by the door and as Sirius was taking down a book from the shelf, none other than Remus Lupin walked into the room. Sirius started blushing. He cursed his cheeks and his imagination under his breath. Remus looked over at Sirius, after a few seconds he began to look concerned.

Remus said, "Sirius, are you okay? Your face is all red."

Damn that boy for being so nice! This only made Sirius blush harder, he could imagine Remus calling out his name as they …

_Rut, rut, rut!_

Dammit! For some reason the song, "Time of the Season" decided to pop into his head as he kept thinking of taking Remus's face in his hands and just kissing his lips, which he noticed as he looked at Remus and by now he must be rivaling a tomato, very soft looking. If he could just touch them, he'd know for sure. Yes, he just needed to lift his hand to feel.

"Sirius?" Remus said slowly.

Sirius hadn't said anything for a while and Remus was looking back and forth between Sirius's red face and James Potter, was this some kind of joke? Before he had a chance to even attempt to deduce what the hell was going on and what Sirius was trying to do, a voice spoke from behind him.

"Uh, Remus, you're blocking the doorway."

Remus turned around, it was Lily, who was looking pretty angry. Remus hastily apologized, "Sorry!" As he tried to move through the doorway, he ran straight into Sirius, who still hadn't said anything and beginning to look like a complete fool. By now, the whole class was watching the procession silently looking for good topics to gossip about.

Fortunately, James had come up behind Sirius and caught him before the other two boys could fall over because of Sirius's stupidity. James immediately grabbed Sirius's hand from behind and put it down forcibly. He let go of Sirius's hand and began to make up an excuse for Sirius's behavior.

"I'm sorry on behalf of Sirius; he must have come down with something to make him act like such an idiot."

"Right," Sirius said, his voice was cracking and he was staring wide-eyed at Remus, and feeling like his head was going to pop off from all the heat.

James grabbed on side of Sirius's head to hold it as he drove two of his knuckles into the other side, not a punch, just a push to try to put some sense into his friend. "Idiot!" He said, "You're not supposed to agree!"

"Right." Sirius said, not fully registering the pain. He felt like such an idiot, and like he had no control over his body, what was he about to do to Remus? Damn!

James only glared at his friend for a moment before turning back to a very confused Remus and Lily and smiling. He said cheerily, "Excuse me, while I try to slap some sense into Sirius here."

With that, he swept past them, dragging Sirius along and closing the door behind him and he slammed Sirius against a locker and hissed, "What the hell is your problem?"

"My … problem? I … I don't … " Sirius looked at the ground, feeling seriously confused.

James looked at Sirius with a sarcastic look on his face, but he felt more concerned. "Sirius, are you okay? This is really unlike you, I mean, sure, sometimes you put up a front, but—"

"A _front_?! When have I ever … Oh." That was sort of true; he had liked to play games. People were always saying things about him, and girls were always coming onto him. In real life he never gave into any of it, but in the school's alternate universe, people liked to imagine all sorts of things, and Sirius didn't usually clear it up, because then that usually lead to more gossip, so last year he reached the stage of fronting that some of the stuff was true, but now he was at the stage where he really didn't give a fuck what people thought of him.

"Rather talk later?"

"Yes please."

They walked back into German as the bell rang. They could tell, as they sat back down that everyone was talking about them and what had just happened. Sirius didn't care and neither did James. Whatever, nothing was wrong, they could just write it off as a prank gone bad or something. But only if they felt like it.

_Rut, rut, rut!_

Shut up!

**END!!! Sorry that took so long, I ended up starting it, and restarting it, but now it's finally done! Hope you have enjoyed it.**


	3. Long Weekend

**Backstage Marauders**

**Author: Jill Rocca**

**Disc: I wished I owned all, but Harry Potter. Thankfully at least we actually know ONE OF THEM IS GAY!!! YAAAY! (Go Dumbledore gay pride.) Changed the title, I think it's more fitting.**

**Fandom: Harry Potter, MWPP era, but in 2006-2007 America. Very AU.**

**Pairings/Characters: Remus/Sirius central with James/Lily because I love them too. I have a plan for Peter.**

**A/N: Wow, I haven't updated for five months. I got caught up in the whole college thing and school … still so busy, but right now I've decided to sit down because I have been thinking about it a lot and I have so many ideas! Now to sequence them. I know I said "end" at the end of chapter 2, sorry, I should have put to be continued, but I wasn't paying attention. Sorry about that!**

**Also, ****let me explain the setting: This story takes place in an American suburb in Pennsylvania, not far outside of Philly. No specific name of place, but that's the general understanding, it's an area I can describe best. Some of these characters will travel, but this is where they are for school. I **_**will**_** probably talk about Philly and about where they live and describe the school a bit later, but for now, this is what the general setting is.**

**Chapter 3: Long Weekend**

Lily was pissed. No, more than pissed, she was super pissed. No, scratch all of that, she felt more livid and loathsome. McGonagall had blamed the presence of the cheerleaders at "this morning's spectacle" on _her_. Lily wasn't even there and she was getting punished for it! She tried to explain the power struggle between her and her squad and how she had actually gotten into school when the bell first rang not a few moments ago, but she was told that the cheerleaders could still get into the football game for free, but they could not cheer. She didn't get detention only because McGonagall had called Mrs. Evans to ask what time her daughter left and she confirmed that Lily had been running late.

Lily had always thought that McGonagall was pretty fair, tough, but fair. This was injustice! It was the first game and everyone would be so disappointed … _Serves them right for being so stupid._ Lily thought, still feeling mad as the German lesson began. Lucius Malfoy couldn't play, the cheerleaders couldn't cheer, and even the marching band—whom most of were forced outside by the football team—couldn't perform at half time. What a night! _Oh well._

She tilted her head to the side, not feeling much like paying attention and noticed that Sirius Black was also not paying attention to the German lesson. He was staring down at his unopened binder. One of his hands was tangled up in his hair, the other was on the desk and his face looked scared. Obviously enraptured by thought, he stared wide-eyed at his binder.

Lily watched a little longer as his eyes softened and he raised his head to look at Remus, who was one row up and to his right. Lily was very curious now. Sirius was looking at Remus like Remus had done something to him, something very bad. Lily stifled a giggle as she thought that maybe Sirius was developing a _thing_ for Remus (Oh, how _awful_ it is to be gay! Thank YOU strange society). And how cute would that be? Though she hated the gossip, Sirius Black did seem quite rebellious making him the complete opposite of the sweet and calm Remus Lupin. Lily knew Remus could be quite aggressive in his opinions when he wanted to be. Remus was a real person, so few had figured out, and he was a lot of fun to be around, and so was Sirius if she thought about it (even if he did hang out with a loser like James Potter all the time) and their personalities seemed to compliment each other.

She wanted to squeal so badly, but it wasn't right to pair two people together when they were unaware, even if they were boy and girl. She continued to watch them. Remus was completely oblivious to Sirius's constant staring; the other boy couldn't take his eyes off of him! Indeed, Sirius's stare was more and more intense the more Lily looked between them. He must have been daydreaming, but what? Lily was writing down some possibilities on some notebook paper, when the magic was ruined when Frau asked Sirius to translate something and he jumped and got all tongue-tied. Sirius didn't look at Remus again the entire class time. Great, now what was she going to do for fun? She was beginning to quite like the idea of Sirius pinning down Remus somewhere; it was just _too_ perfect. The Sexy Badass going for the class Cute, but Shy-boy …

Such a crazy day.

---

"That game _sucked!_" cried Gideon Prewett.

It was after ten o'clock and Sirius, James, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, and Frank Longbottom were coming out of the gates to the football stadium along with the rest of the crowd that was pouring out from the stands. The whole game was a flop. Since that morning, word had spread throughout the school that Quarterback Lucius Malfoy wasn't allowed to play, the cheerleaders couldn't cheer and the band couldn't even play at half-time. Even though the Hogton & Wartston Gryphons had won the game, it didn't feel like it. There had never been such a lack of school spirit in HWHS history.

The group was heading off to meet Andy Black and her boyfriend Ted Tonks and Alice, who was Frank's girlfriend at the park in the center of town. It was this thing that the students did along with all the other high schools in there area called the "Fifth Quarter." It was mostly and excuse for some to get drunk and play touch football. For others like Sirius and his friends, it was just something to do to hang out before curfew. They all usually met in the center of the park, got a fire going, and made s'mores and drank soda and talked till midnight.

When they arrived, they could hear voices just up top the hill. The boys walked up the steep slope, they often used for sledding. As they reached the top, to their left they could see teens sitting on various benches along a row of trees talking, drinking, flirting, or kissing. To their right they saw people drinking mostly, or many of the non-alcoholics were laughing at the drunken morons or just hanging out and playing a little touch football; one group even ventured to play strip poker, they had gathered quite a crowd to watch the losers take of their clothes and brave losers they were, it was quite chilly out for September.

The boys reached their usual clearing and found Andy and Alice waiting for them. Alice ran and kissed Frank swiftly before turning to greet the other boys. Andy came over to hug her cousin and James briefly before going back to her boyfriend, Ted.

The girls led them over to the benches situated around the clearing and passed out graham crackers. Now the real games could begin. It was sort of funny, sort of sad watching their peers get drunk and try to interrupt the non-alcoholics playing tackle-football. The group would start talking about one thing, then watched the others playing football, and then that led them to talk about school, which somehow led to James announcing Sirius's odd behavior this morning. The only other ones who were present were Gideon and Fabian, who were also in their first period German class. They both turned to stare at Sirius with questioning looks on their faces.

"Acting weird about what?" Ask Fabian.

"Nothing! I was just freakin' out about leaving my German book in my locker, you know how Frau gets!" was Sirius's reply.

The rest of the group looked at each other, and then they burst out laughing. Sirius blushed. Damn, he knew he wouldn't get away with that one, but he needed to say something other than, "Oh, I just erected over some guy at his locker."

Andy was the first to say, "Oh Sirius, when have you ever cared about being obedient?"

James wouldn't stop clapping his hands and saying, "_Come_ on!" he was laughing so hard.

When they had finally stopped laughing, James asked, wiping a tear from his eye, "Come on Sirius, tell us what's so wrong that you would have to make up something … _so_ …" And he started laughing again.

"Nothing, really, just get off my back about it, okay?" Sirius said sternly. There was no way he would admit to getting jacked up over a guy, much less Remus Lupin, ever.

"All right, all right," James said.

They spent the rest of the evening talking about school mostly before turning in about 11-something. Sirius was the last to be dropped off in James's car. They drove in silence for a few minutes before James finally asked, "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

N_ot this again._ Sirius was so tired, he didn't even think he could formulate a proper response, so he just said, "I dunno."

"Is it really _that_ bad?"

"Yes," Sirius stared out of James's window. He rubbed his eyes wishing the conversation were over. If it were up to him, he'd rather forget the whole thing, but since all cards were thrown against him …

"I'll let you forget about it then." Could James _read minds?_

Sirius couldn't admit that he had those feelings, because he would never have the feeling again, he was sure of it. Remus totally wasn't his type for one thing. He was too … too … well when Sirius got right down to it he sort of enjoyed watching Remus play basketball. The way he moved was really graceful and thought-provoking, but … what? What did that even mean to him? Sirius concluded that he was too tired to contemplate about Remus's movements.

Hm … Remus looked damn good today in that polo shirt that showed off his arm muscles. Wow, he needed this day to end. He did not have a crush on Remus Lupin, but why was he plaguing his thoughts? Why? He barely even knew Remus … well he knew that Remus was a good person. He could remember a time when he was upset all the way back in first grade and he had hidden because he didn't want anyone seeing him crying, but Remus had found him and kept asking him what was wrong.

When Sirius finally gave in, he sobbed, "My mom hates me!"

"Why?" Remus had asked.

"I don't know, she only likes my little brother!" Remus had stayed with him and played with him until he had cheered up, but Sirius had been so mean to him the next day. Remus asked if he could play with Sirius again, but Sirius was already playing with James and some other boys and they said no, so Sirius said no. Sirius opened and closed his eyes slowly thinking about it. He still felt bad about it years later and it sucked. It was Remus's life, he'd have to put up with so much shit before he discovered he liked basketball and got good, people loved him on the court … but there was something else Sirius couldn't describe about what happened to _him _when he watched Remus play basketball; even by himself he looked so determined and motivated. He was so dedicated to the team that it was moving.

James finally made it to Sirius's subdivision, Grimmauld Place, the only subdivision in the whole town, and dropped Sirius off at Number 12. They said their good-byes and Sirius turned and walked through the gate and up to his door. When he opened it, he was greeted by his father, mother, brother, Aunt, Uncle, and triplet cousins all sitting around the breakfast room. Sirius walked through the hallway to the breakfast room. He looked in confused; they all looked up at him.

He said, "Andy? Uncle Al!"

His Uncle Alphard moved around the table from where he was sitting next to Sirius's father to hug his nephew. Andy too stood up from where she sat in between her sisters, frowning a little. They had only seen each other a few minutes ago, what was this? Knowing somehow that he wasn't going to like whatever it was if Narcissa, Bellatrix, his aunt, and his mother were involved he wanted to turn on his heel and go to bed, bad news come what it may in the morning at breakfast as these things usually did, but Sirius just sucked it up and walked into the room.

"What's going on?" He asked wearily prepared for the worst. He looked up at his uncle and then looked to Andy and then finally to his father. His mother, aunt, and uncle were all smiling. Andy looked a little shocked and the other two (Narcissa and Bellatrix) were looking smug. Regulus on the other hand looked extremely displeased.

"Sit down Sirius," said his dad.

Sirius moved to the only empty seat, his usual chair next to Regulus and looked at his father. He felt rather patient with whatever was about to be said. That or he was just too tired to care and he could be more annoyed in the morning. It was after midnight! What news could be so important that they needed to all be gathered round the breakfast room _now?_

"Your uncle and aunt are unfortunately living outside the school district as of late and right now, you know your cousins had to transfer … and so since the school is threatening to withdraw your cousins, we felt it was in the girls' best interests to move them in here with us." said Mr. Black.

"We … I mean, Regulus and I don't have to share a room do we?"

Mr. Black was so taken aback by this reaction by Sirius he didn't say anything for a moment, which prompted Regulus to say, "We _don't_, do we?" He looked desperately from his mother to his father.

His father said, "Of course not, you two should know full well we have enough rooms here to accommodate all the girls."

"Okay," Sirius said. "When does everyone move in?"

Still taken aback, Mr. Black stammered, "Uh, um … this weekend hopefully we can get their necessities in the upstairs guest rooms."

"Okay," Sirius said again. "Can I go to bed?" He was so weary and barely registering that Bellatrix and Narcissa were now going _to live with him. _Indeed, all he could think about was that Andy was coming to stay with them and that couldn't be a bad thing. He'd finally have an ally in the house granted they didn't drive each other mad over who got first shower, but then he remembered, he had his own shower.

"Err, yes." His father nodded.

Sirius pushed back his chair and said, "Good night," He looked over at Andy and said, "Let's not be enemies."

Andy nodded blinking wearily.

**TBC …**

**Sorry about that last chapter. I meant end of chapter 2. Couple of minor changes that actually have a pretty huge factor in what I'm planning for later chapters: There are seven periods in their school day. Sirius, Remus, and Lily will have a choir class. Not together I'm thinking, but it'll be in there. Oh, and I changed the title as you can see.**


	4. Dining Out

**Backstage Marauders**

**Author: Jill Rocca**

**Disc: I wished I owned all, but Harry Potter. Thankfully at least we actually know ONE OF THEM IS GAY!!! YAAAY! (Go Dumbledore gay pride.) Changed the title, I think it's more fitting.**

**Fandom: Harry Potter, MWPP era, but in 2006-2007 America. Very AU.**

**Pairings/Characters: Remus/Sirius central with James/Lily because I love them too. I have a plan for Peter.**

**A/N: This chapter is action packed with character development and a surprise at the end … enjoy!**

**Warning: Character development, getting to know Remus's family … yeah, I kind of made this like an actual life story, but it all goes somewhere, don't worry. I feel like I gave Remus all this extraneous family members … but he had to have a history! My family is kind of similar I've come to find as I write this warning after I've finished. It'll all go somewhere, but I wanted to write this like a life story so it would feel a little bit more real … like how reality is pretty random.**

**Chapter 4: Dining Out**

Sirius moaned. At the rate they were going, he was going to cum soon, and he craved to be inside the other, but the one on top of him wasn't letting up. Sirius grabbed the other's face with both of his hands and brought it down so he could kiss it. The other's hands stopped moving below Sirius's waist so much and became calmer as Sirius deepened the kiss sticking his tongue inside the other's mouth. Sirius used this pause to get on top of the other. He smiled mischievously downward.

That other smirked, "What are you going to do to me?" they said slowly and sensually, but it wasn't an actual question. They knew what Sirius was going to do and they were ready and willing for it. Sirius was ready to make him moan. It started out slowly as Sirius touched the body underneath him first with gentle caresses as they kissed, but then he moved more rapidly, all the blood rushed to his member and he wanted more.

The boy underneath him was quite submissive and not too fast to cum. He was red in the face from holding it in for so long and also blushing from having Sirius touch him and kiss him so much. Sirius was working on the other boy's chest making little red marks sprout up all over. Sirius was moving his head lower and lower until the other boy gasped because Sirius had just kissed his member.

Sirius looked up and smiled wickedly. He began moving his fingers inside the boy, making him howl. Sirius was thoroughly enjoying this and finally he thrust himself inside the other boy. The boy underneath him was moaning and groaning and calling out Sirius's name, asking for more, which Sirius was only happy to give him.

"Remus … Remus, _Remus_." Sirius cooed at the other boy.

Remus smiled. His hair was plastered to his face with sweat and his face was red. The little marks Sirius made seemed redder with the continued thrusts Sirius was putting through Remus's body. A particularly hard thrust sent Remus's spiraling. He breathed very heavily and moaned out Sirius's name. They were both cumming out or into each other and crying out each other's names and groaning. The heat was too much; they felt constricted. Sirius moved and moved trying to get comfortable and situated with his orgasm, but it just wasn't working. What was on him that was making him feel so constricted and hot? He grappled and jerked around, but he only felt more restricted. The next thing he knew, Remus was gone and he was in a sweaty tangle with cum on his bed sheets struggling for freedom.

When he finally pulled himself out of his tangled mass, he was so pleased, he didn't realize that his next movement would make him fall on the floor, which happened; he fell onto the floor with a hard _thump!_ Cursing, he tried to remove his legs from a new tangle. When he succeeded, he was laying upside-down with his back on the floor and his legs bent over the side of his bed, entangling himself in his sheets.

Today was not going to be a good day, he could just tell. He swirled himself around so he could sit up straight and survey the damage. He was still hard when he woke up, but what had he been dreaming about again? His face flushed as he remembered who else was in his dream. Then he remembered what they were doing.

_Damn, damn, damn, damn!_

This was the last thing he needed to be thinking about before school started. Where did these things even come from? He had known Remus almost all his life and now … things were getting weird and it was all one-sided too. Damn Remus for not feeling his particular pain. (But is that really his fault?) Sirius finally extricated himself from his bed sheets and threw them in his laundry basket. Thankfully the house staff did laundry on Monday's.

Sirius jumped in his shower and washed himself almost feverishly. He stepped out twenty minutes later and looked at his clock. It was still a half-hour before his alarm went off. He lay back down on his bed wrapped in his towel not bothering to retrieve the comforter from his laundry pile in his closet. He lay on his side thinking. It had been bad to face Remus after that locker incident (as he liked to call it) and now he was dreaming about him. Cursing his raging teenaged boy hormones, he held his face in his hands. In the dream, it had felt right to be with Remus. Indeed, the boy made everyone he met feel comfortable, but something must have turned people off about Remus. Sirius tried to think about it and the more he thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. Remus was a cool guy; he just didn't put himself out enough. People were so hard to figure. Given the opportunity and putting his hormones aside, he felt he and James could be good friends with Remus.

Sirius's alarm eventually went off and Sirius slowly got up to turn it off. He got dressed and got his things ready for the day. He headed downstairs for breakfast to find Bellatrix, Narcissa, and his mother already seated there. Putting his bag down in the foyer, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Regulus strode over to put his bag down next to Sirius's. They didn't say anything to each other as was customary and walked into the breakfast room together.

As soon as they sat down to eat, Bellatrix and Narcissa got up from the table and said their good-byes. A car horn blared outside. Sirius could get used to this. Only have breakfast and dinner on weekends with his less likeable cousins. It wasn't long until Sirius's father and Andy came downstairs and they were all eating breakfast.

"Where are Bella and Cissy?" Mr. Black asked his wife.

"They had to go to school early, dear." said his wife.

The past couple of days hadn't been too nightmarish. His cousins weren't as bad to live with as he had expected, they were barely home out with their boyfriends. By his cousins, he meant Bellatrix and Narcissa. As long as Sirius didn't have to see Lucius lurking around his driveway or darkening his doorstep, he would be fine. He found it a lot of fun to have someone like Andy to talk to at breakfast and dinner and seeing her around was actually pretty awesome. After moving Andy's stuff into her room and helping her redecorate, they met James and Ted at the park to just hang out and play some soccer or touch football and they were joined almost every hour by some friends they had called over or happened to be driving by.

Despite his dreams, Sirius had a good feeling lurking somewhere in his gut, what it was, he had no idea, but the happy feeling of anticipation welled up inside of him and carried him all through breakfast. They had breakfast mostly in silence before Ted eventually came to get Andy and Regulus went to the bus stop. Sirius went into the kitchen to grab his lunch and a breath mint wondering where the hell James could be and was just think about calling his in the foyer when Regulus came back into the house, angrily slamming the door.

"What's wrong with you?" Sirius asked pulling out his cell phone. James was way late.

"I missed the bus." Regulus said.

Sirius smiled and said in a voice as if he were talking to a baby (honestly, it was too funny, Regulus getting so upset over missing the bus. Though, he had left when he usually did, so Sirius supposed it wasn't entirely the younger boy's fault), "Do you want a ride?"

"Don't talk to me like that!"

Sirius waved his cell phone around his brother's face. He knew he should be so annoying, but it was just too fun to tease Regulus. Regulus stared at his older brother uncomprehendingly. "I can't give my baby brother a ride to school?" Sirius said in that mocking tone.

"Well you never wanted to before."

"I'm calling James." Sirius said punching in the speed dial. "Hey, where _are_you?"

"Sorry, Frank needed me to get him, and since he takes Alice to school, I had to get her too, I'm just pulling into your subdivision." James's voice echoed into the phone.

"Oh, okay. Listen, Regulus missed the bus, can you give him a lift?" Sirius asked.

"Err … okay?" James said and they hung up.

Regulus stared at his brother who stared back clearing his throat. Regulus finally got the hint. "Thanks … Sirius."

Sirius walked nervously into Chemistry class that morning not knowing what to expect. Remus was there in his seat looking at something on his lap and smiling. When Sirius got closer he realized it was Remus's cell phone and he was texting someone.

Mr. Slughorn, their chem teacher wasn't in the room just yet, so this was presumably why Remus had even bothered. Slughorn hated Remus. The whole class could tell because he looked for any excuse to punish Remus. Why? Sirius had a feeling it was because Remus nearly blew a hole in the room during their first lab demonstration. It was strange, Remus had been volunteered to help Slughorn with the experiment and he had done everything the man had told him to do, and yet, the entire flask exploded. Remus didn't get punished for it by Principal Dumbledore because the whole class had seen Remus do everything Slughorn told him to do, hell, Slughorn had even helped at some points, but presumably humiliated, Slughorn had not been happy around Remus since.

"Who are you texting?" Sirius said sliding into his chair beside Remus.

Remus looked up and gave Sirius a surprised and happy 'You want to talk to me? Really?!' Sort of a look.

Sirius held out his hands, "Sorry, it's really not my business—"

"My cousins." Remus said smiling and turning back to his phone.

"Oh! Do they go here?" Sirius said sounded astonished. If Remus had cousins, he would definitely see them hang out around here. Right?

Remus shook his head, "No, they live in D.C. and Boston."

"Oh, I see." Sirius was contemplating whether or not he should stop the conversation here or not. After a moment he decided to take the plunge. "Why so far?"

"Oh, um, my Uncle works for CNN in D.C.—"

"No way!" Sirius was generally interested now.

Remus smiled. He said, "Yeah, he's a news anchor."

"Wow," Sirius said in awe. "A-and your cousin in Boston?"

"She goes to Boston College and her family lives there." Remus said pointing to his hoodie which read, "BOSTON COLLEGE."

Sirius looked at it, smirking and said, "And … _her_ name?"

Remus chuckled and said, "Irina Sadfried."

"Mom's side?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

Unfortunately for their conversation, Mr. Slughorn decided to come in and start class. Remus handed Sirius the notes from yesterday, which he hastily started copying down. He was so absorbed that he almost missed when Mr. Slughorn assigned them a five-paged single spaced research project,_due next week_.

Sirius nearly slammed his pen down and hissed at Remus, "What?"

"Look at your seat partner," Slughorn was saying, Remus and Sirius looked at eat other knowing what was coming, "This is your partner. Turn in the research you have done on the topic I will assign you, with the paper, a works cited page, and PowerPoint due Monday."

"WHAT?" said about have the class in unison including Sirius.

"No questions," He said leafing through a pile of papers and putting a few on the first desk of each row for them to pass back; they were their instructions for their papers. Slughorn then moved to each set of pairs telling them what their assignments were before turning back on his heel to stand up at the board and begin teaching, the jerk.

When the bell rang, Remus turned to Sirius and said, "So, um, how do you want to do this? I mean, at least our topic isn't that hard to research."

"Well …" Sirius started, "I have practice all week except Friday."

"Oh, so do you want to just research separately or at lunch and uhh …"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, sure. Do you want to meet up on Friday or … um …"

"Sounds good to me. Where then? Library or … maybe we could go to one of our house—"

"Not … not my house." Sirius said.

"Um … okay?"

"Err, it's just that … well … my family is … um, well, you know Bella and Cissy." Remus nodded, "They live with me." He said as if that explained everything, which … it sort of did.

"Oh." Remus seemed to understand. "Well then, do you want to come to my house?"

"Sure."

The rest of the week seemed to pass quickly and the bell signaling the end of school on Friday made Sirius jump out of his chair, but not in a good way. He was slightly nervous about going to Remus's house. Especially since the whole week he had been having dreams about Remus that were getting stranger and more erotic as the week went on as he anticipated spending an entire evening with the other boy. All he had to get through was one night where he'd be working on the paper, which shouldn't take long; he had been researching the crap out of their topic, five pages would hopefully come easy with their combined efforts and get him in and out of Remus's home.

Remus came to meet him at his locker and out their strolled to the parking lot towards Remus's car, not saying much. They got to Remus's car and hopped in, throwing their bags onto the backseat.

"You did tell your parents you were coming to my house tonight, didn't you?" Remus asked putting on his seatbelt.

Sirius did the same. "Yeah." He had mentioned it at breakfast. His Dad had nodded in approval. No big deal.

"All right!" Remus threw the car into ignition and they were making their way out of the parking lot. They didn't talk much while driving. Sirius was getting more and more curious to see the Lupin house. They drove a little bit through town when Remus's cell phone started ringing in his bag. It rang twice before Remus said, "Sorry, do you mind answering my phone? I'm sorry, I don't like to talk on the phone while driving … I'm sorry."

"No big deal," Sirius grabbed Remus's phone and flipped it open, "Hello?"

A boy's voice called out from the other end, "Remus?" The voice was confused.

Sirius smiled into the phone, "No, actually."

"Oh," said the voice, "Well … are you going to clue me in as to what you have done with my cousin?"

"He's driving." Sirius said simply, smiling into the phone.

"Oh! Well then! Can you tell him Walden called?" said the voice.

"Sure thing," They hung up. "That was some guy named Walden?"

"Oh, my older cousin," Remus said, then he looked confused. "He should be in school …"

"Is he the one in D.C.?"

"No, Walden lives in Wyoming."

Sirius had to laugh at this, "Random?"

Remus laughed. "His dad, my uncle Carver, works at the University of Wyoming as a psychology professor."

"How many family members do you have and where do _they live_?" Sirius asked.

"Well … my Dad's parents live in Canada … my mom's live in France—" Remus began smiling.

"Stop! Just stop." They started laughing. Then Remus's phone rang again. Sirius answered it without question; it felt pretty good being apart of something even though he and Remus were hardly close, but at least they were getting somewhere. "Hello?" Sirius said still chuckling.

"Hello? Remus?" called a girl's voice.

"Oh, who's this?" Sirius asked in his most jokingly flirtatious voice he could muster.

"His cousin, Irina." said the girl's voice. "Where's Remus?" she asked playfully.

"He's driving. May I take a message?"

She chuckled a little there were sounds of lots of people talking, a bus going buy and cars: Boston. She said, "Yes, can you tell Remus that he _is_ coming to visit me in October?"

"Sure. Remus," Sirius said, turning away from the phone, "Your cute-sounding cousin, Irina, says you _are_ in fact coming to visit her in October."

Remus braked at a red light, he called at the phone, "You got the tickets? Yes! Thank you!"

Sirius turned on Remus's speakerphone, "We got you guys tickets! You, Vance, all our parents and some of my friends are going to the game!" She said. "Let's see … I have three extras, Vance said none of his friends can come …"

"Tickets for what?" Sirius asked.

"The Boston College versus Penn State football game," The two of them said in unison.

"Really?" Sirius sighed. Remus seemed to have the coolest family in the world. His family never did anything like go to a football game much less just hang out or … anything. The most their all did together was eating … sometimes go on vacation, but even then, they avoided each other except during meal times.

Remus finally pulled into his driveway and they got out. The house was not as expansive as his, but it was nice, like a 1920s estate. They walked into a foyer and Sirius was stunned. He looked like he had stepped onto the pages of Elle Décor! To the right was a dining room with a dark wood table with a table cloth and a case of china and a liquor cabinet. To the left was a long living room with an L-shaped off-white couch facing away from the window with a grand piano in the corner. Facing them was a set of stairs, but off to the side was a hallway that led into the Lupin kitchen and next to the kitchen was a den with bookshelves, a big screen television over top of a brick fireplace, and family pictures all over the walls. Remus offered Sirius something to eat or drink, but Sirius neglected him still taking in the house. If this was the downstairs, what did the upstairs look like?

Remus laughed at Sirius's expressions and grabbed his arm and dragged him upstairs to give him the full tour. Upstairs was a spacious hallway that led all the way down to the master bedroom. In between it was a full bathroom, a guest bedroom, and Remus's room.

"You can just leave your stuff in here." He said.

Except Sirius wasn't listening, he was too much in awe of Remus's room. It looked like it was straight out of a magazine just like the rest of his house. Sirius's house was professionally decorated, but this was just so much better! Remus had a large window with a cushion on the sill and I oak desk in one corner and a queen-sized bed on the other side of the room and a bookshelf that almost reached the ceiling. He had a bunch of family photos hung on one of his walls by the window and just all this cool stuff like a desktop computer to name one thing.

Remus looked over at Sirius's astonished face and said, "Do you want to see the upstairs?"

Sirius sunk onto Remus's bed and said, "I don't think I can handle much more."

"And this is coming from the guy with the biggest house on the east coast?"

Sirius could only stare and nod.

"My mom's an interior designer … she went kind of crazy …"

"Wow …"

Remus led Sirius down the hallway and up another set of stairs to the third floor. They had two more guest rooms up there, a full bathroom, and two office spaces, which Remus explained were for his parents. His father had a circular room that looked like a study, it was lined with bookshelves and there was a desk and a couch in it as well. Mr. Lupin was a lawyer, Remus told Sirius, and sometimes he liked to work from home. The second office space was Mrs. Lupin's and it was lined with whiteboards and cork boards and also contained stacks of sketch books, there was a long white table in the center of the room; pictures lined one wall, probably with past or future project spaces, Sirius assumed.

Now that the tour was over, Remus and Sirius headed back downstairs to Remus's room to work on the project.

They were three-fourths of the way through editing the report and completely done the PowerPoint around six o'clock. They had to sit unreasonably close at Remus's desk to use his computer to compile all the things they had researched and taken notes on that week. Occasionally, like when Sirius leaned in to point at something in Remus's computer screen, their knees would brush, and Sirius would blush at the notion and apologize, blushing even more because it wasn't Remus's fault he was having erotic dreams … about Remus.

They were just starting on their conclusion when the front door could be heard opening and closing and the sound of heels clicking on the wooden floor came before a woman's voice called up, "Remus! Honey, I'm home!" It was his mother. Remus backed out of his chair and Sirius followed Remus downstairs to greet his mother. At first Remus thought the woman standing at the banister was Remus's sister or something she looked not a day over twenty-one, but it was his mother. Remus hugged her and she asked him, "Did you have a good day?"

He said, "Yeah, did you find a new landscaper yet?"

"No … I just don't like anyone that's come to interview," She sighed. She turned her gaze behind Remus and said, "Hello! You must be Sirius." She reached out her hand.

He shook it saying, "Yes, yes I am." She smiled warmly. She looked so young, but surely she must be about forty or so, unless …

She walked into the kitchen, Remus followed her, and she was saying something about calling Remus's father to see where he was and asking the boys what they wanted for dinner. Remus looked a little like his mother, especially when they smiled.

She set her purse down and led them into the living room with the L-shaped couch and they sat down.

"So how is your project coming along?" She asked.

"Good, we're pretty much done." Remus said and Sirius nodded.

"Good," She smiled, "What do you boys want—"

She was cut off by the sound of the front door opening again. There were some heavy footsteps and a handsome man walked into the room staring around. He put a briefcase down and strode over to sit next to Mrs. Lupin, looked at her and asked her, "Can we go out to eat?"

"Welcome home dear!" Mrs. Lupin said to her husband sarcastically. "How was your day?"

Mr. Lupin smiled, "Great, I have a new case coming up, have you found a new landscaper?"

"No, I had so many interviews, but nothing just yet. A bunch of straight out of college kids I may take on for internships, but no one really reached out to me."

"I didn't realize finding someone to arrange a flowerbed was so hard."

Mrs. Lupin pushed her husband a little and said, "Stop." They started chuckling.

Mr. Lupin looked at his son, "His son, how was school?"

"It was okay. Oh! Irina told me she got our tickets!" Remus said brightly.

Mr. Lupin paused for a minute as if not sure how to react, but then he seemed to brighten up and he was almost shaking with anticipation, "This is so exciting …"

Remus's father looked like he could be Remus's older brother. They looked similar, especially in height. They had the same face shape and nose. Sirius wondered how old Mr. and Mrs. Lupin were, unless it was a family trait for both of them to look young, but Remus looked all his sixteen years and no less. He couldn't help but wonder if Remus was a mistake, but the family looked so happy together and successful in whatever they were doing.

Mr. Lupin shook Sirius's hand as Remus introduced him to his father. It took a minute, but Sirius finally recognized Mr. Lupin. "Y-You're Ben Lupin, the attorney!"

"Mm … hmm?"

"My Dad used to talk about you all the time when he was following your case a few years ago with that … rapist blackmailer!"

"Ah, the resulting lawsuit bought us this house. But wait … I'm talked about?"

"Oh course you are honey, that was very brave thing you did." The case of Ben Lupin and the Rapist went on for about a month of going back and forth between defense and prosecution. Ben Lupin was handling defense of the alleged rapist. According to an interview with the _Philadelphia Inquirer_, Ben Lupin had a chance to hear the defendant confess to the crime of raping a little girl and just so happened to record that confession, present it to the court and have his client arrested. He lost the case completely, was fired from his first law firm, but didn't lose any money and was picked up by a more powerful law firm providing him with an even bigger paycheck. Sirius's father had been so astounded and impressed with the man's willingness to lose his own case and here was the man sitting right next to Sirius who didn't know that the man lived right in his township! He wondered how his dad would react if he told him. Sirius inwardly smacked himself. How many Lupins could there be in all of Pennsylvania?

"Thank you." Ben said smiling at Sirius. He turned to his wife and said, "So, there's this restaurant I saw that looked pretty interesting on my lunch break in Philly I thought we could go check out tonight, if that's okay with everyone."

"Sirius do you have to bed home at a certain time?" Remus asked.

Sirius shook his head.

"Good, are you boys done with your project?"

They nodded; they could edit that last paragraph later.

"Let's go."

The four of them were laughing and talking and generally getting along in this restaurant. Sirius had all but forgotten his recent slew of dreams and feeling more and more comfortable in Remus's company. It was a lot of fun getting to know Remus better, that he wasn't the loser the rest of the school thought he was, he was just shy and reserved and so much better than those cliquey people—the main people that say if we ostracize you, everyone must follow suit. Sirius knew that Lucius Malfoy threatens anyone that is seen "hanging out" with the "losers" of the school, but if people are really that stupid to believe that he'll actually do something, then they didn't deserve to be Remus's friend. Remus was a starter for the basketball team, really smart, funny, and kind to everyone. Sirius wasn't really one to talk, however, he had ignored Remus too, and here was this person so suppressed by high school and waiting for a friend to come along. Remus had had friends before, but that was just maybe when they were little and kids made and lost friends every day. Though, he couldn't give Remus so much credit because he didn't usually try to put himself out there, but making people feel comfortable seemed to come naturally. Sirius now knew that Remus mostly hung out with his family and they traveled often.

Sirius found out that Remus's grandparents lived in Canada and France respectively. On his father's side, there were three Lupin brothers: Carver, Dallan, and Ben, in order. Carver lived in Wyoming, Dallan lived in District of Columbia, and Ben here in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Lupin only had one older brother, Remus's uncle Cid. His cousins were Irina, Walden, and Vance.

"How in the world," Sirius was saying as they finished their entrées, "Did your family come from Canada to Pennsylvania?"

"Well," Said Mr. Lupin, "My brothers were both born in Canada and they came to Vermont before I was born because my dad got a job from his company in Burlinton, Vermont, so we lived there until the summer before Dallan was a senior in high school."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, he was pretty pissed off. My parents got new work in Pennsylvania and I can still remember the conversation. My parents told us at dinner when Carver was visiting over his spring break from college and they just said, 'boys, we're moving,' and Dallan just looks at them and goes, 'Where? To Middlebury?' my parents said no, and so he starts listing off every other nearby Vermont town and then they finally stop him and say, 'Dallan, we're moving to Pennsylvania'. He was so pissed. He made them promise to take him college touring wherever he wanted in the United States and that they couldn't give him crap if he went to college far away like Carver did when he went to Emory University in Georgia."

"Crazy,"

The evening was coming to a close. Sirius was feeling really tired and it was only ten o'clock. They drove through Center City, past the Art Museum, and through Fairmount Park all the way home. Sirius had been having such a good time he didn't want to go home, but he couldn't impose after they had shown him such a good time. He nearly fell asleep in the car, and he must have dozed off because the next minute, the Lupins were opening their doors and Sirius jumped up and walked with Remus up his driveway.

"Do you … um, did you want me to take you home?"

"Umm,"

Mrs. Lupin said, "You're more than welcome to spend the night, Sirius, if you're really that tired."

"Oh, I'm not,"

"You fell asleep in my car," Said Mr. Lupin.

"Dad, really—"

"What?"

"I'll just call my dad." Sirius said taking out his phone. It rang and rang, and finally his younger brother answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Where is everyone?"

"Out." Regulus said curtly.

"And they left the poor baby Regulus at home by himself?"

"What do you want?"

"I'm just going to spend the night here at Remus's, I'm too tired ."

"Yeah because you're the one driving."

"Shut up, just tell mom and dad."

"Fine."

They hung up.

"Who was that?" Remus asked as they headed upstairs to his room.

"My little brother."

"Oh," they reached the room. "You can borrow my clothes if you want."

They changed quietly, Sirius facing one wall so that he didn't have to look at Remus, the thoughts of the dreams wafting back into his brain. When they were done, they decided just to head off to bed. They said good night to Remus's parents and Remus broke out his sleeping bag, but Sirius never used it. They ended up sitting on Remus's bed with the lights off just talking and somehow they ended up lying back and getting under the covers and lying in sleepy silence after they had already over stressed talking about school and friends and sports.

"Remus?" Sirius called out sleepily.

"Yes?" Remus answered.

"Have you ever been … kissed?" Something most people had been wondering in his social circle, maybe once or twice.

Remus didn't answer for a short while. He said very sleepily, "No."

"Have you ever wanted to try it?" Sirius turned on his side to look over at Remus, Remus was looking up at his ceiling, his eye lids looked like they were getting heavy.

Neither of them was really thinking about the outcome or even what they were doing when they shifted on the sheets and came closer and closer together until their lips met. Sirius was kissing Remus slowly as if they had been doing this forever. Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus's waist pulling his closer. Remus didn't object; he put his hands on Sirius's shoulders as if he was holding on, not wanting to be let go.

After a while, Sirius slid his tongue into Remus's mouth, and Remus accepted by widening his mouth, allowing entry. The kiss seemed to last for hours and hours, it stretched on into the night and somehow they both fell asleep in each other's arms.

In the morning Sirius had thought that he was having another one of his dreams and he felt remorse that he had done that in Remus's own house, but at least he hadn't came, the kissing felt so real, so sweet, and almost shy. He definitely liked it, which made him feel more embarrassed, this couldn't go on, and it was awful because he really liked Remus, but he just wasn't sure how much he liked him.

When he opened his eyes to see a sleeping Remus resting peaceably in his arms, he knew he was in trouble. He was staring at Remus realizing that last night was definitely not a dream at all. As if sensing being stared at, Remus slowly opened his eyes looking back and Sirius. His eyes grew wide. They shot backward off of each other as if electrocuted.

"Boys! Time for breakfast!" called Mrs. Lupin from the kitchen.

Remus knew not even the pancakes that smelled so promisingly downstairs would do anything to get the taste of Sirius out of his mouth.

**TBC …**

**Yes, I know I'm evil. Next chapter will be shorter I'm thinking. This was 14 pages on my computer …. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it despite it's slow pace. I know the ending was a little slow to come … but I hope you all liked it as it was anyway. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Sunday Confessional

**Backstage Marauders**

**Author: Jill Rocca**

**Disc: All character belong to JK Rowling, except my various extraneous ones that help the story along.**

**Fandom: Harry Potter, MWPP era, but in 2006-2007 America. Very AU.**

**Pairings/Characters: Remus/Sirius central with James/Lily because I love them too. I have a plan for Peter.**

**A/N: This chapter is mostly about … I guess Remus's struggle to come to terms with what happened Friday evening. Lily is there to help.**

**Chapter 5: Sunday Confessional**

Lily felt trapped. Her parents had just announced over dinner Saturday evening that they wanted to visit her sister, Petunia, the next day. A trip to New York where her sister currently went to college at CUNY's City College of New York would be fun, if she didn't have to see her sister who obviously never wanted to see her again and her surprisingly rude boyfriend Vernon Dursley. Lily loved her sister dearly and couldn't comprehend why she always upturned her nose whenever Lily was around, especially when her parents praised her … which seemed to happen more often than they praised Petunia for her accomplishments. Lily was smarter and more active in school than her sister, but she had gotten into CCNY with a decent amount of scholarship money thanks to a decent SAT score, but Lily's parents always described Lily as "exceptional."

Lily, who really didn't want to be trapped with Vernon and her sister's glaring for an entire afternoon innocently persuaded her parents to let her invite a friend to come along. She had two options Remus or Andromeda.

She decided to call Remus first.

"Hello?" A strained voice sounded on the other end of the phone.

"Remus? It's Lily."

"Hey, what's up?" Remus still sounded strained.

"Rem, would you do me a favor?" Lily asked bracing herself and praying that Remus would be able to convince his parents at such short notice.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Remus, are you okay?" Lily asked sounding concerned, whatever was the matter with her she could put up with Vernon and Petunia—Remus sounded like he was really hurting about something.

"I'll be fine."

"You would tell me if something was really wrong wouldn't you?"

"Sure. Now, tell me what your problem is, you sound frantic."

"Oh, no I'm not! But anyway, would you come with me to visit my sister in New York tomorrow?"

"Oh … I mean, I want to, and I doubt we're doing anything, hang on …" She could hear Remus's footsteps going down a set of stairs and he heard him calling out to his father asking him for permission to go into the city. She heard a muffled response and then another voice was on the phone.

"Hello Lily."

"Hi Mr. Lupin,"

"You want Remus to accompany you all the way into New York City tomorrow?"

"Um, yes please."

"I'll consent, but under one condition."

"Okay?"

Mr. Lupin's voice was barely a whisper, but Lily could make out what he said when he asked her, "That you could please find out what's wrong with Remus, he's been in a slump ever since he woke up this morning and he won't say what's bothering him, I mean, this is a serious slump, he's been in sort of a trance and looking like he's about to cry all day. I think a little distraction might help, please _take him_."

Lily smiled into the phone, "Of course!"

The next morning Lily rang the doorbell at the Lupin house to be greeted by Mrs. Lupin who invited her inside. Remus eventually came down the steps looking a little jaded. Lily smiled warmly at him, he eventually smiled back.

"Ready to go?" Lily asked him. He nodded. They left.

Remus was putting up a good show of being kind and jovial in Mr. and Mrs. Evans's presence, but Lily knew there was something lingering underneath the surface of all this. Remus was acting like he was determined to have a good time and Lily was determined to let him because whatever it was that was eating away at him, the way Mr. Lupin described it, it was really bad. Remus usually told his parents a lot of things, but what was this that was so bad that he couldn't even confide in a friend?

About two hours of talking and listening to music, they finally rode through the Holland Tunnel and were making their way to CCNY. When they arrived, Petunia Evans was waiting for them at the Northern Campus where she took up residence in one of the halls. Mr. and Mrs. Evans walked up and hugged their oldest child. Lily and Remus kind of hung back.

Petunia was very bony with horse-teeth, gray eyes, and blonde hair. She and Lily couldn't have looked more different with Lily's red hair and green eyes and slim figure, but they were still sisters. Petunia glared at her sister and Remus standing behind her parents. Remus still cheerfully greeted the eldest Evans daughter, but she did return the favor.

Remus whispered to Lily, "Why does your sister hate you again?"

"I have no idea why, but she and her rude boyfriend think I'm a freak," Lily said shaking her head. "Anything out of what they call ordinary they look down at."

"But you're her sister, what's out of the ordinary about you?"

"Well, I cheerlead, I have friends, and I take AP classes." Lily explained smiling up at him. "Basically I go out of my way to actually go out and do things."

"I'd say you were extra ordinary."

"Aw," If Lily didn't think Remus was gay, she'd totally go out with him. Not that she knew for a fact that he was gay … she herself never had a boyfriend, but that didn't make her a lesbian. Remus never tried to hit on her and he occasionally went shopping with her and he was a spiffy dresser, and … well she didn't know, Remus never tried to flirt with any girls of any kind, but did that even mean anything? Oh, it was so confusing when Remus himself didn't even seem to know.

It still didn't stop her from linking arms with him before they walked around campus with Petunia. It was a means of survival, Petunia was taking them to meet with Vernon.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans and Petunia were walking ahead of Remus and Lily and talking a little. Lily thought this was the perfect time to ask, "Remus, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Remus stopped for a split second, obviously surprised and then kept walking with her saying, "What's there to tell?"

"Come on, you have this hurt voice over the phone, you come downstairs looking all blank and forlorn and you seem to be straining yourself to be having a good time with me!"

"I am having a good time!" Remus protested.

Lily looked up at him inquiringly. "My parents are busy giving Petunia attention to hear whatever it is you are going to tell me."

"I kissed a boy," Remus said so low, Lily barely heard it. But she did and she stopped walking, he kept moving, unlinking their arms. He turned around to face her, he looked like he was about to cry.

She hugged him, he didn't move. "Who?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Umm …" This was the hard part. They eventually kept walking. "That's the thing, it was just so … so random, like it was just … going to happen eventually, but I mean, I wasn't taken aback by it at all." He said sounding scared.

"Who?" She asked again.

He looked down at the ground as if not knowing what to say, but he had already come this far … and she would probably find out later anyway … somehow. He needed to tell someone, he was feeling better about it already. "Sirius Bl—"

"OH MY GOD!" Lily burst out without really thinking about people being nearby or her parents only a few feet in front of them. "How did that happen?" She wasn't shocked about Remus kissing some guy, but of all guys … she thought he had _taste_!

Lily's parents and sister turned to look at them questioningly, for Petunia is was in question of Lily's mental health.

"Why are you screaming in a public place, you and your friend are embarrassing me in front of my classmates!" Petunia hissed.

"Sorry!" Lily said. Petunia glared at her and kept walking; she could spot Vernon in the distance and who couldn't? He was so round and beefy you could spot him a mile away. Lily could even see that he was starting to grow a moustache and beard that over took his face. She wanted to point out to Remus that her sister didn't have taste, but she thought Remus did! Sirius Black … _Sirius Black?! _Of all people!

Poor Remus however thought she was mad at him about the kissing a boy thing. He looked severely hurt and taken aback; Sirius had kissed him, not the other way around! When she finally realized this she stopped scathing to reassure him that she had no problem with him kissing boys.

"What's bothering me is how you two came together, of all people Remus! _Sirius Black_?"

"We're not together!" Remus said to her. He dropped to a whisper, "He kissed me!"

"And you let it happen? Of all people Remus! _Sirius Black_?"

"We were working on our Chemistry project together at my house, my parents took us out to eat in the city and we got back late, he spent the night …"

"Wait, hold on … he spent the night … and you were all alone in your room?"

"We didn't do anything else if that's what your insinuating!"

Their whispered argument was generating more stares from the others in their party now accompanied by Vernon Dursley. Mrs. Evans walked over to her youngest and put her arms on her shoulders and turned her to face the others.

She said, "Vernon is here darling."

Lily took a deep breath and said, "Hello Vernon! This," She grabbed Remus's forearm to pull him closer to the party. "Is my good friend Remus Lupin."

Remus said, "Hello," and stuck out his hand for Vernon to shake. Vernon just stared down his multiple chins at it and then turned away, holing hands with his considerably thinner girlfriend. They were whispering and smirking at each other. Remus drew back his hand slowly. Mr. and Mrs. Evans looked inquiringly after their daughter and her boyfriend, also continuing on and suggesting that the six of them go out to lunch.

Remus turned to Lily and they started laughing. "He's really ridiculous isn't he?"

"I know! They're perfect for each other!" They continued laughing as the party walked up and down the streets looking for a place to eat. Lily still wasn't going to let Remus off the hook.

"So how did it happen?" She was trying to come to terms with the matter, but knowing full well she couldn't take the event back no matter how much she wished she could. _Sirius Black?_ He hung out with James Potter!

"I dunno, we were talking a lot before we fell asleep, he ended up just staying in my bed … and … and he asked me … if I had ever been kissed before and I said—no, and then it just sort of happened."

"Wow Remus."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"Well, I mean … I just thought you had taste," He snorted, "But yeah, that is really random. It's like he wanted to kiss you …" He looked downcast. She finally understood, "Oh, is that what's eating at you?"

He only nodded. She could only smile. She said reassuringly, "Trust me, everything will be absolutely fine. We're going have a fun day making fun of my sister's boyfriend and being in New York City and tomorrow I'll keep you company. Don't let it eat you, you're too good for that. And don't you dare think it's your fault."

Remus smiled, "Thanks Lily."

Sirius touched Andromeda's shoulder and she whipped around in surprise from where she put away her dishes in the kitchen sink. She smiled as soon as she realized it was Sirius, but frowned at the expression on his face. He looked distraught, but for what she had no idea.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

He shook his head feeling confused about the whole thing himself. Truth be told he wasn't even sure if anything was wrong at all, but he knew he had made Remus feel bad, especially the way they had departed the day before. Remus had kindly dropped him off at his house, but they could barely speak to each other. Sirius didn't blame Remus, but the thing was the kiss had felt so right, the way he took Remus into his arms so easily and Remus had responded willingly.

He felt like if he couldn't call James about it, he at least wanted to tell Andromeda. "Will you walk outside with me?" Sirius asked.

She nodded knowing that he was about to tell her something important.

They walked outside to the backyard and sat on one of the benches in the Black family garden. Sirius looked very solemn at his cousin and finally said, "Andy, I kissed a guy."

She gasped a little. "Who?" She asked as if almost excited.

Sirius was so taken aback by her reaction that he didn't even answer for a time. Then he said, "Remus Lupin …" He explained the way it had happened.

"When you spent the night? OH MY GOD!" Andy was smiling by now.

"What? I mean … it just happened like it was supposed to happen for a really long time. That's all I'm freaked out about is how right it felt."

"You should ask him out." Andy said simply.

"_What?_"Sirius said sharply. He had only kissed the boy not thought that far ahead … into a relationship. It would be a completely different relationship than the ones he had before. For one thing Remus wasn't just one of his fangirls, much less a girl.

"Yeah I mean, if he kissed you back."

"But we were tired, we weren't really thinking."

"You seem to have been thinking about it a lot, that's why you did it, right? Or is this what you mean, you just had gay moment and needed to get it out of your system? The way you describe it, that's not it at all. The way you describe it, you sounded like you really wanted to do it."

"I think I did." Everything was so confusing. Ask Remus out? Wasn't that being a bit forward?

"I think you should, then you can see if you really like him or not."

"But he's bound to say no, so I mean … what then?"

"He won't say no." Andy said smiling mischievously.

Sirius looked sidelong at her. "What are you planning?"

She stood up off the bench and stretched her arms in front of her. "He won't say no." She repeated and began to walk towards the house.

Sirius stood up. "Why are you smiling?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Really, what are you planning?" But he knew he wasn't about to get an answer out of her.

**TBC …**

**Thank you for the great response to the last chapter! I really appreciate it, because I was kind of worried about the reaction to the extraneous family members, but I don't find them extraneous … and after I posted the chapter, I came to realize they're kind of like my own family a little bit, just different. Every character has a purpose, don't worry. Next chapter to come soon! I can assure you Andy's got quite a few tricks up her sleeve.**


	6. The Hellish Side of the Week

**Backstage Marauders**

**Author: Jill Rocca**

**Disc: All characters belong to JK Rowling, except my various extraneous ones that help the story along.**

**Fandom: Harry Potter, MWPP era, but in 2006-2007 America. Very AU.**

**Pairings/Characters: Remus/Sirius central with James/Lily because I love them too. I have a plan for Peter.**

**Summary: Andromeda is coming up with a plan that Sirius can't figure and won't figure until James, Lily, Frank, Alice, and Ted all get involved. What are friends for anyway?**

**A/N: I finally realized that my transition thingies didn't come up on the interface of the chapters. The lines WERE THERE! Trust me; I'll make sure they show up next time. Sorry about that folks. Thank you so much for reading!**

**Chapter 6: The Hellish Side of the Week**

Remus woke up on Monday morning feeling a sense of dread. He sat up as he heard his mother call him down to breakfast thinking about it. Lily was a great friend saying she'd be with him throughout the day today, but the face remained that he still had to go to school, still had to see Sirius, and she didn't have every class with him. Thankfully neither did Sirius, but that time when they would sit together for almost an hour in Chemistry … when they'd have to give their presentation … and sit together … side by side. Remus sighed as his mother called him again and he got out of bed mentally preparing himself for the worst.

---

Sirius turned over on his side thinking about having to get up and go to school. He could tell one of the servants that he was sick and then they'd tell his father and then he could stay home, couldn't he?

"Sirius! Are you dressed?" It was Andromeda.

_Damn._ He rolled out of bed and strode across the room and opened his door. She stood there smiling up at him fully dressed and presumably heading downstairs to breakfast.

"Get dressed! Today will be a big day!" Andy said cheerfully.

Sirius scrutinized her expression. She was planning something, something to do with him. Something told him he wasn't going to be so happy seeing her around his house within the next few days.

"What?" She asked shrugging her shoulders and turning on her heel smiling and walking downstairs.

Sometimes she could be just like her sisters.

When Sirius was finally decent and finished his breakfast, James was pulling into the Black family driveway. James … that was right, Sirius hadn't managed to tell James about his Friday night escapade … experience. He knew he would have to tell James at some point, he was his best friend, they told each other just about everything, but how in the hell would he tell James, "Hey I kissed Remus Lupin and how do you _feel_ about that?" This was just as bad as telling James about his strangely erotic dreams, but he had to do it.

He got into James car and decided to get it over with while he was driving slowly in the development. "James … you're going to …"

"I'm going to what?" James said looking around at the stop sign.

"I kissed … please don't freak out." Sirius said nervously.

"Who?" James wasn't moving the car. Sirius looked over at him. His whole face read 'if you kissed Lily Evans I will murder you here and now and make it look like an accident.'

Sirius stared at his knees not really sure how to put it, but how else but to just spit it out? "I kissed a guy over the weekend."

James's shoulders relaxed, he began to drive again not saying anything. Sirius started freaking out.

"James," He said sharply, hoping to goad him into saying something. Anything.

"Okay," James said slowly. Not was Sirius was expecting. At least it was better than kissing Lily Evans! "Who?" He said after a while, his voice cracked a little.

"Remus … Lupin," Sirius said slowly.

At the next red light, James slammed on the brakes. He didn't look at Sirius, but instead contended himself with saying, "Okay," as slowly as he did before. After a short pause that seemed to last an eternity when the light changed and James drove on, he asked, "When you went over to do the Chem project?"

"Yeah … I spent the night—"

James started laughing hysterically and pounding on the wheel as they pulled their way into the school parking lot. He parked still laughing. Sirius glared at him. He knew exactly what James was thinking.

"Sirius! You deviant!" James looked at Sirius and kept laughing. Sirius glared at him. This wasn't funny! James was howling, Sirius could see some people pointing at James in the car as they made their way into school; they walked faster when they saw Sirius looking at them.

"James, I'm being serious."

"Yes, you're definitely Sirius Black. Seriously," James said in response. He continued to laugh until he saw that Sirius really wasn't playing around. He faltered and asked, "So … _so_ do you like him?"

"I don't know."

James clicked the lock button and said smiling, "You should ask him out," As he stepped out of his car.

Sirius stepped out of the car perplexed. "Andy said the same thing …"

"Well, yeah, I mean that's one way you'll know. I mean, we've all been in school together for … ever and I mean, yeah we barely talk to him, but you could have developed feelings … or you could just be horny, I dunno, just ask him out."

"No!" Sirius said feeling a little indignant, was James serious? _Damn._

"What?" James looked genuinely confused. "You've been on dates with tons of girls, why is this any different?"

Sirius pulled James closer by the arm to whisper in his ear, "Maybe because Remus is a guy?"

James shrugged, "A cute guy, you like cute people."

"You are such a jerk." Sirius said letting go of James's arm and walking ahead of him so he wouldn't notice the smile that was spread across his face, this whole ordeal was too much.

"What? At least I'm not, like, performing hate crimes!" Their argument in the middle of the parking lot was generating more stares from their fellow upper classmen, but who cared?

---

Andromeda was on a mission. She combed through the hallways trying to find Lily, or at least James for this plan she had going on for Friday night. She had already gotten Ted onboard this morning on the way to school and she just needed to find James, Lily, and the twins, Fabian and Gideon for this plan to work.

She finally saw Lily, but she was walking down the hallway and talking to Remus, one of the last people she wanted to hear her plan. Fortunately for her, they were turning into German class so she could just pull Lily out quickly and tell her the plan quickly and get to her own class. Andromeda walked in and was also happy to find that Sirius had not yet come in. She walked in, Lily and Remus still talking animatedly to one another. She stood a little bit away from them, but close enough for them to see her smiling at them. Remus was sitting on his desk and Lily was standing in front of him talking, she still hadn't put down her books.

"Hey! Can I talk to you for a second?" Andy said as soon as they stopped laughing. Lily put her books down on a desk next to Remus and close to the window and said, "Sure!" She turned to Remus next and said, "Right back." He nodded and slid off the desk and into the chair leaning over to pick up he books as Andromeda hurried Lily out of the classroom. As they were walking out, James walked into the classroom. He gave his usual smile to Lily whenever he saw her and aimed for the second seat next to Remus. He slammed his books down on the desk and sat down as Remus looked up at him searching for the source of the noise.

He seemed to be scared as soon as he saw James sitting next to him and turned to look at his book, searching his notebook for his latest German translation as if wanting anything but to look into James's face. James could see that he was scared and he knew why; seeing him as the best friend must be as bad as seeing Sirius.

"Hi Remus," James said kindly hoping he wasn't giving off an air that he knew anything was wrong.

Remus looked up at him, "Hi James." He said quietly.

James smiled at him. Their conversation didn't go any further because Lily came back and sat in her chair looking extremely excited about something. Andy was still standing at the doorway and calling James's name.

He looked over at her.

She said, "James! Can I ask you a question after class?"

"Sure." As soon as she left, Sirius walked into the room.

Lily started talking to Remus again, something about New York, so that Remus would look in her direction. He consented and they began talking about something they had done yesterday in New York and James turned to look at them; Lily had spent a day with Remus in New York City? _What?_ Then Sirius sat down next to him looking straight at the chalkboard and James remembered, _oh yeah._ James looked at him and put his head on his fist and looked at him. Sirius looked back.

He still thought that Sirius should ask him out, but he sort of understood why Sirius wouldn't, except that this shouldn't be about Remus being another boy, if Sirius really thought he liked him then he should see for sure. The kiss … they obviously both liked it or else they wouldn't be so nervous in front of each other. Lily was obviously trying to help Remus through it, so now it was James's turn to help Sirius.

"Sirius—" James started to say, but then Frau came in and began their lesson with a surprise test translation so he couldn't get anything out.

---

It was just after soccer practice on Wednesday, Sirius was waiting a while toweling dry his hair and throwing on his clothes, happy he was alone. James was already gone having to take care of something for his mom and Sirius didn't really care. He was getting tired of Andy and James's obnoxiously smiling faces they made at him almost every time they saw him. All throughout the week, Ted had been staring at him strangely, Frank and Alice following suit; the Prewett twins trying to control laughter almost every time they had talked to him today and for what he still couldn't figure out. Though he had said he'd hang out with Andy Friday night, but today he felt he needed some down time. He sat down on the bench, not feeling like going home and having to deal with his entire family being there. Granted Andy provided some clemency, but still. He needed a breather every once in a while. Seeing them all the time at school and at home was a little daunting sometimes. Usually he could handle it, but this week was just spiraling out of control.

The silence was refreshing that is until he heard the familiar swish and flick of the basketball nets in the gym. He started and stared around. No one was with him, of course. With every hope that it was Frank or another basketball player not Remus Lupin, he walked toward the court with his stuff in hand.

He pushed the door open slowly and found Remus in work out clothes sweating like he'd been there all afternoon. His sweat dripped down his forehead even though he was wearing a sweatband on his head. The way he jumped when he shot the ball made his gray sleeveless top rub up against his stomach and just stuck to him halfway up his chest so that Sirius saw his glistening abs.

Remus eventually stopped to get water. He took off his sweatband messing up his hair which was damp with sweat. He rubbed his face and his hair a bit, mussing it up like James used to do when they were younger. Except that he didn't find James as appealing as Remus was right now. Sirius thought Remus looked … like he'd just been going one on one with … another person … and he was one being done … to … Sirius just couldn't describe how he felt, but he definitely could say that he wanted to be the one doing Remus right now.

He needed to leave. He could feel the blood rushing down south, but he couldn't move his legs. This was embarrassing. Remus was bound to see him standing there just staring at him like he was ready to just tackle Remus and just _take him!_ Sirius wanted Remus so badly. The only thing that could ruin this moment was if Remus looked up to see Sirius staring at him.

About a split second later, Remus did just that. He must have had those receptors where you can just tell that someone is staring at you. Remus looked up at Sirius and he couldn't seem to move either. He looked a little upset and confused as to why the hell Sirius was there.

Sirius's body started doing odd things. First he felt his jaw tighten, then he started leaning forward, but he realized it and started walking backward, but he really wanted to go forward. The frontal motion won and he started walking towards Remus feeling determined about something, but what he couldn't put his finger on, but he thought it had to do with feeling like he wanted to see Remus naked.

He was finally standing over Remus breathing heavily like he had just been running for miles. Remus was breathing heavily and he looked a little scared. Sirius sat down on the bench next to Remus in a very fast motion, dropping his stuff along the way. He stared at Remus and Remus stared back. Sirius knew he looked like he was longing for Remus, maybe a little too much and coming on too strong, but he was almost addicted to the taste of Remus's lips. He still remembered it, it was only last weekend, but right now it felt like an eternity away. Sirius leaned into Remus and surprisingly Remus leaned into him as well. Sirius and Remus's lips touched again and again. Sirius grasped hold of Remus's face hoping to draw him in closer, but he found his hand moving further downward and he felt the sweat on Remus's chest and suddenly his body screamed for full contact. Sirius had started to lift Remus's shirt up from the sides fully intending to take this further, but just as Remus was starting to get comfortable with the kiss himself by pulling Sirius's hips closer to him, the gym door banged open.

The two boys jumped apart as if they had been electrocuted. They turned to stare at a very wide-eyed Lily Evans standing in her cheerleading work out clothes her mouth agape. She clutched her mouth and ran out of the room.

Sirius too grabbed his things and ran out of the room through the lockers. Remus remained where he was. He waited a few moments feeling like a complete idiot and freaking out internally over what had just happened.

_I wanted him to do it._ The thought made Remus's breath quicken. He stood up shakily and walked over to his things and walked out the exit door to the parking lot at first slowly making his way to his car. He felt like there was a giant sign on his back reading in bright lights, I ENJOY MAKING OUT WITH SIRIUS BLACK. He quickened his pace wanting to get home and fast before anyone could say anything to him.

---

Lily sat on the front steps of the school with her head in her hands. She had seen Sirius running all the way to his house and she knew it was completely her fault. But how could she have known they would be making out in the gym. God, she should never have called that late practice. Remus was going to hate her so much. She couldn't help but feeling satisfied with the sight however. It was kind of—hot, but she still really didn't want to go to school tomorrow. When Andy got there she would have to tell her everything, they'd have to change the plan.

This week was never going to end, was it?

**TBC…**

**This was actually going to be longer, but I didn't want to make it tooooooo long and I have two projects I failed to do this weekend due to general business, so I figured I do this before I went to bed. Next chapter may not be till April. BTW-Do I have any readers who live in the Atlanta area? Did you go to MomoCon?**

**I also have a proposition, I'm thinking that I'd like to make this into a feature thing on livejournal with graphics and a whole bunch of stuff to get to further know other characters and I dunno, I just think I can do more with this story on LJ. I really want to do this, and I'll deff accept anonymous reviews and emails, but I just thought I could re-vamp this story and make it glossier and … I dunno, cooler I suppose if I can get my hands on my mom's photoshop and I dunno. I was just wondering if since I have a very good amount of readership here, I'd have followers. You do NOT have to be a member of LJ (even though, it is awesome) to read the fic, I dunno, I just think I can do a little more with this fic (especially visually) on LJ and … I dunno, it's just more space you know. I know visual effects aren't everything, but with the amount of stories on this link in … I dunno. I just really want to do it. Make BM have its own site. I like the idea.**


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